Konsumtionskompassen

This briefing describes 'Konsumtionskompassen' (Consumption Compass), an Excel-based tool developed by the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) to help Swedish municipalities analyze household climate footprints at the postal code level. The tool aims to identify 'hotspots' of consumption-based emissions to enable the creation of targeted local policy measures and incentives for sustainable consumption.

• The 'Konsumtionskompassen' tool reveals significant disparities in consumption-based climate footprints across Sweden, ranging from approximately 3.5 tonnes of CO2e per person per year in resource-poor areas to nearly 18 tonnes in resource-rich areas.
• On average, Swedish household consumption emissions are 6.3 tonnes of CO2e per person per year. Transport is the largest contributing category (42%), followed by food (24%) and housing/furniture (18%).
• While average climate footprints are similar across most municipalities, the composition of emissions varies by geography: urban areas show higher emissions from air travel, while rural areas have higher emissions from car use. Additionally, residents in northern Sweden use more energy for heating.
• The tool's data indicates that postal codes with higher incomes generally have a higher average climate footprint from consumption than the national average.
• The methodology of Konsumtionskompassen combines bottom-up data for car trips (14% of total emissions) with top-down distribution for other consumption using MOSAIC profile data (48%), household expenditure surveys (8%), income levels (8%), and other specific methods for heating and flights (22%).
• Konsumtionskompassen estimates are approximately one tonne higher than official Swedish calculations from SCB because it includes long-haul flights and high-altitude effects, which nearly double the climate impact of aviation.

APA

Axelsson, K., Dawkins, E., Rahmati-Abkenar, M., & Broekhoff, D. (2022). Konsumtionskompassen. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/sei-konsumtionkompassen-axelsson.pdf

Chicago

Axelsson, Katarina, Elena Dawkins, Mahboubeh Rahmati-Abkenar, and Derik Broekhoff. Konsumtionskompassen. Stockholm Environment Institute, 2022. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/sei-konsumtionkompassen-axelsson.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Axelsson |first1=Katarina |last2=Dawkins |first2=Elena |last3=Rahmati-Abkenar |first3=Mahboubeh |last4=Broekhoff |first4=Derik |title=Konsumtionskompassen |publisher=Stockholm Environment Institute |date=September 2022 |url=https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/sei-konsumtionkompassen-axelsson.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{axelsson2022konsumtionskompassen, author = {Axelsson, Katarina and Dawkins, Elena and Rahmati-Abkenar, Mahboubeh and Broekhoff, Derik}, title = {{Konsumtionskompassen}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2022}, month = sep, url = {https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/sei-konsumtionkompassen-axelsson.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }