Utmaningar och möjligheter i kommunernas arbete med hållbar konsumtion

The report analyzes the efforts of Swedish municipalities to promote sustainable consumption across their own operations, households, and local businesses. While many municipalities work systematically within their own operations—focusing on vehicles, food, and energy—there is significantly less focus on households and businesses. A critical gap exists in monitoring the environmental impact of procurement, with nearly half of the surveyed municipalities performing no such assessment. The report identifies economic motives and national guidelines as primary drivers, while highlighting a severe need for political support, financial resources, and standardized data tools. It recommends that municipalities establish systematic procurement analysis, that local politicians prioritize sustainable consumption, and that the government tasks regional administrative boards (länsstyrelsen) with coordinating these efforts.

• A majority of surveyed municipalities work systematically with sustainable consumption within their own operations, but far fewer target other actors: approximately 30% work to promote sustainable consumption among residents and about 25% target the business sector and other organizations.
• Municipalities primarily focus their sustainability efforts on vehicle use, food, heating, electricity, and waste within their own operations, while areas with high documented climate impact, such as IT, electronics, and furniture, are addressed by only a limited number of municipalities.
• There is a significant lack of monitoring regarding the environmental impact of municipal procurement; nearly half of the municipalities reported that they did not perform any assessment of the environmental or climate impact of their purchases in the past year.
• Economic motives are the most significant driver for sustainable consumption work in municipalities, followed by national guidelines and policy instruments.
• Municipal officials identify political support as the most critical need to advance sustainable consumption, followed by financial resources, information, and legislation.
• Approximately 40% of municipalities have either established or are in the process of establishing a consumption-based sustainability goal for the municipality as a geographic entity.
• There is a marked difference between municipality groups regarding food consumption goals: nearly 80% of municipalities in Group A (large cities and nearby areas) aim to reduce animal-based diets, compared to approximately 40% in Groups B and C.
• Innovation procurement is rarely used to promote sustainable consumption, with only 15% of responding municipalities having applied it on one or more occasions.

APA

Axelsson, K., André, K., & Dawkins, E. (2019). Utmaningar och möjligheter i kommunernas arbete med hållbar konsumtion. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/axelsson-unlock-report-2019.pdf

Chicago

Axelsson, Katarina, Karin André, and Elena Dawkins. Utmaningar och möjligheter i kommunernas arbete med hållbar konsumtion. Stockholm Environment Institute, 2019. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/axelsson-unlock-report-2019.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Axelsson |first1=Katarina |last2=André |first2=Karin |last3=Dawkins |first3=Elena |title=Utmaningar och möjligheter i kommunernas arbete med hållbar konsumtion |publisher=Stockholm Environment Institute |date=October 2019 |url=https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/axelsson-unlock-report-2019.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{axelsson2019utmaningar, author = {Axelsson, Katarina and André, Karin and Dawkins, Elena}, title = {{Utmaningar och möjligheter i kommunernas arbete med hållbar konsumtion}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2019}, month = oct, url = {https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/axelsson-unlock-report-2019.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }