The Swedish Environmental Code – one legislation, several ways of enforcement

Panel: 1. Programmes to promote industrial energy efficiency

Author:
Martina Berg, Swedish Energy Agency, Sweden

Abstract

The Swedish Environmental Code is a holistic environmental legislation based on the implications of sustainable development. Energy efficiency and use of renewable energy is pointed out as one of the general rules of consideration, which gives it a central role in the legislation but this has not been fully discovered yet.

In Sweden several tools are used in order to alter energy use in industry. Among the tools you find, apart from taxes, also programmes, information and networking. Legislation should be the foundation, where basic demands are made. Other tools, like information and networking should be used for making businesses reach even further than the basic demands. The exact level of energy performance is not determined in legislation. The Environmental Code is meant to be flexible like that. This is both the strength and the weakness of the legislation.

The Environmental Code can be enforced in different ways. One way is to emphasise the knowledge and self-auditing requirements. This can mean that a business should map energy performance and then implement reasonable measures under supervision of environmental authorities.The other way is for the authorities to look directly at requirements to use best possible technique and then demand measures in order to improve energy performance in a business. In reality a combination of the two methods is often required.

Several different authorities in different regions in Sweden have done work in the area of energy efficiency in inspection. They have done it in different ways. Some have emphasised the information tool in the environmental legislation and have used advisors and other actors in the energy field to promote energy efficiency, more than controlling it. Others have used a more traditional inspection method in order to implement energy requirements.

The different ways of using the Swedish Environmental Code, interpreting the legislation and enforcing it will be further explored in this paper.