Abstract
The Reduktionsplikt (engl. reduction duty) requires Swedish fuel suppliers to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions of their petrol and diesel, in practice mostly by blending in biofuels. It has become a much-contested policy of the 2026 election, and the debate is almost entirely about the policy’s impact on the pump price.
We argue this focus is too narrow. So long as compliance runs through blending, any price effect is simply what follows from mixing two products with different prices: the mandate level scales it, but its size depends on the gap between biofuel and fossil diesel, which is largely determined by broader market conditions rather than by the mandate level alone. What deserves attention is where that gap is heading, and whether the mandate’s cost is reasonable relative to the emissions it avoids — a question Sweden must answer if it is to choose efficiently between policies to reach its 2030 emissions goals.