How much is 1 ton of CO₂?
Sweden’s consumption-based greenhouse gas emissions are around 80 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalents (CO₂e) a year. How much is that? Is one ton of CO₂e a lot? Here are some comparisons to make it easier to understand.
7.6 tonnes / personConsumption-based emissions per Swedish resident, 2023. Down about a third since 2008.
Source: Naturvårdsverket ↗
6.8 tonnes / personGlobal greenhouse gas emissions per person, 2024, all gases.
Source: EDGAR / European Commission ↗
+1.43 °CGlobal mean temperature in 2025 above the 1850–1900 average. 2024 was the first calendar year above 1.5 °C (1.55 °C).
Source: WMO ↗
To stay within the Paris Agreement’s 1.5 °C limit, global emissions need to fall to roughly 1 ton of CO₂e per person and year by 2050. The long-term average is still below 1.5 °C, but single years have already crossed it.
So, in order to live within that limit, about 1 ton of CO₂e per year is what each person on earth can emit. That is the level at which we avoid the worst of the wildfires, storms, drought and flooding that come with further warming.
It is a hard goal to reach alone, since 1 ton of CO₂e is roughly a return flight from Stockholm to Lisbon, or a single flight to Toronto for one person. Many things need to line up: a “polluter pays” policy that makes sustainable transport cheaper, and removing CO₂ from the atmosphere.
But a good start is to measure your footprint, because “without a scale you cannot lose weight”.
How big is your footprint?
