STOCKHOLM, June 19, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Sweden's greenhouse gas emissions dipped by two percent in 2023, the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency said Wednesday, amid experts' concerns that the government's climate policy will soon increase short-term emissions.

In March, an independent panel of experts tasked with reviewing climate policy said the government's plans would lead to short-term emissions increases in 2024 and knock it off-course from its 2030 reduction target.

In 2023, the Scandinavian country's emissions amounted to 44.2 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent, a drop of about one tonne from 2022, according to preliminary statistics, the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency said in a statement.

The two percent decrease was in line with a 1.6 percent drop announced by Statistics Sweden in late May.

The EPA said the 2023 figure represented a decrease of 38 percent from 1990.

The EPA attributed the year-on-year drop primarily to lower emissions from industry -- in particular the cement, iron and steel industries, due to lower production as a result of Sweden's economic recession -- and the electric and district heating sector, due to lower electricity prices.

"Emissions have continued to decrease, not least in industry and electric and district heating, which form part of the EU's emissions trading system," Anna-Karin Nystrom, the head of the EPA's climate target division said.

"The pace has slowed compared to the year before, when above all domestic transport and (fuel-based) work machinery contributed to a sharp reduction."

In March, the expert panel, the Swedish Climate Policy Council, said in a report that "policy adopted in 2023 will increase emissions and does not lead towards the fulfilment of Sweden's climate goals and EU commitments by 2030."

The council said several measures, such as a reduced fuel tax, put climate ambitions at risk.

But it also lamented a lack of concrete measures in the government's "climate policy action plan", a roadmap that the government is required by law to present every four years.

Sweden's Minister for Climate and the Environment Romina Pourmokhtari said she was "not particularly worried" about the review's assessments.

"They are based on the government's policy announcements during 2023, and there are several measures that have been added since then," Pourmokhtari said.