Integrating regional carbon budgets into regional climate policy

Description

The urgency to accelerate and significantly scale up Sweden’s transition efforts puts considerable pressure on regional decision-making. As a result, there is growing interest from the local level in developing carbon budgets for Swedish counties to better understand the mitigation targets necessary to meet the Paris Agreement commitments. A set of regional carbon budgets has been developed by the Climate Change Leadership (CCL) node within the Natural Resources and Sustainable Development (NRHU) research program at the Department of Earth Sciences, Uppsala University. These carbon budgets enable Swedish counties to set more realistic targets for a rapid yet sustainable transition to a carbon-neutral society. They also foster communication and stimulate discussions among a wide range of stakeholders regarding local policies and objectives.

The project uses the regional carbon budgets developed by the CCL team for Västra Götaland, Västerbotten, and Östergötland Counties as a starting point. These counties represent varying levels of engagement with the carbon budgets, enriching the comparative analysis of the study. The project has two main objectives:

1. to support the selected counties in integrating ambitious carbon budget targets into regional climate policies and broader public policy strategies, and
2. to improve understanding of the role counties can play in accelerating the transition to a carbon-neutral society.
   

Read more about the project (in Swedish)