Press releases and news

Here you will find our press releases and news

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  • | pressrelease
    80 million to new climate policy programme
    With a backing of 80 million Swedish crowns Mistra’s new climate policy programme, Mistra Nepsis, will aim at the tough target of achieving zero net greenhouse gases emissions by the year 2045. IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute leads the programme and together with Chalmers University of Technology and numerous other universities, industries and organizations they make up a strong consortium. The focus is on three areas: housing, transport and transport infrastructure.
  • | news
    Food Waste Forum attracted great attention in China
    Over 100 professionals from the government, business community, science institutions, non-governmental organizations and international organizations gathered in Beijing for the Food Waste Forum – an initiative to promote the knowledge-sharing regarding global measurement and reduction of food loss and waste. IVL China is the leading organizer of the forum.
  • | news
    Sweden's first purification plant for removal of wastewater pharmaceutical residues under construction
    Tekniska verken is building Sweden's first permanent large-scale treatment for removal of pharmaceuticals and personal care products from wastewater at the Nykvarn wastewater treatment plant in Linköping. The application of ozone means that over 90 per cent of the residues can be removed from the wastewater. The ozonation treatment has been evaluated in collaboration with IVL.
  • | pressrelease
    Significant reduction of heavy metals in moss
    In addition to taking up nutrients from the air, moss also picks up heavy metals, such as lead, cadmium and arsenic. On behalf of the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, IVL has carried out a survey of metal levels in moss samples across Sweden in an effort to determine local variations. The latest count shows a significant reduction of lead, vanadium and nickel taking place between 2010 and 2015.
  • | news
    Celebrating 30 years of cooperation with China
    On October 24th IVL-China hosted a China Day in Stockholm, celebrating 30 years of cooperation with China and presenting the current environmental challenges and opportunities that exist in China. The meeting gave a deeper insight into present day China andthe possibilities for Sweden to conduct business there.
  • | pressrelease
    More efficient water management in the process industry
    The IVL-led EU project Inspirewater, with eleven partners and over 70 million SEK in budget, is now setting out to reduce both water and energy consumption in the process industry. Special focus will be on the steel and chemical industries. In Sweden, the new solutions will be tested at one of Sandvik's own production sites.
  • | pressrelease
    First aircraft to publish its environmental product declaration
    An aircraft type has, for the first time, registered an environmental product declaration (EPD). It is Bombardier Aerospace that has published an EPD for one of its aircraft types; this in order to transparently demonstrate the aircraft's environmental impact throughout its entire lifecycle.
  • | news
    Safer neighbourhoods with resident-driven refurbishments
    Feelings of security and inclusiveness are fostered when inhabitants play an active role in the renewal of their urban districts. This is apparent in the recently completed SuburbanLab project, aimed to modernize and upgrade urban areas built during the Million Programme public housing era. In the Stockholm suburb of Alby residents have participated in the design of new outdoor lighting for a hill walkway and in the creation of urban farming plots.
  • | news
    New technological trends create waste
    Every year a new wave of mobile phones, computers and other technological gadgets floods the market. Although innovative products can be exciting for consumers, they are also stumbling blocks that hinder the development of a circular and resource-efficient economy. These new products often contain components made of complex materials that are difficult to recycle.
  • | pressrelease
    New study on how drug residues affect agricultural land
    IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute has carried out a two-year research project to determine whether the sewage sludge applied to agricultural land contains pharmaceutical residues that spread into the environment. The sludge was found to contain a number of drugs. However, none of the ground water samples taken on agricultural land showed any detectable levels of pharmaceuticals.
  • | pressrelease
    IVL expands within the automotive and transport sector
    IVL is growing and has now, in an initiative targeting the automotive and transport sector, recruited a further 25 members of staff to the Gothenburg office. The expansion is intended to reinforce IVL’s operational breadth with regards to chemical safety, the circular economy, the development of environmental technologies and long-term strategic sustainability focus.
  • | news
    UN report on air quality shows both progress and challenges
    Coordinated action under UNECE Air Convention during the last 30 years has significantly improved air quality in North America and Europe – but more efforts are needed. Despite significant improvements, air pollution continues to be a major threat to the environment and human health. Within the EU air pollution is causing 400,000 premature deaths each year – ten times more than deaths from traffic accidents.  
  • | pressrelease
    Automated sorting will increase recycling of textiles
    Every year 4.3 million tonnes of textile waste is used in the EU as landfill or incinerated. Over 120 000 tonnes of new textiles are injected into the Swedish market, but just barely 5 percent is recycled. This is far too little according to IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute, which together with ten other actors will develop and test automated sorting; in order to facilitate high-quality textile recycling.
  • | news
    Smart indicators to measure the resilience of important social services
    A new EU project – Smart resilience indicators for smart critical infrastructures – will develop indicators to measure resilience, meaning how susceptible vital public services such as transportation, health care, industry and drinking water supply are to interference.
  • | pressrelease
    Natural leaching of phosphorus greater than Sweden’s emissions target
    The natural phosphorus load exceeds Sweden’s emissions target. This is revealed in a new report based on the hitherto most accurate mapping of Sweden's emissions of eutrophic substances into the Baltic and North Seas. Of a total of 780 tonnes of phosphorus that reaches the Baltic each year, 370 tonnes is due to natural leakage.
  • | pressrelease
    Oily bilge water can be purified to drinking water quality
    Today marine shipping has the right to discharge a limited amount of oil at sea, along with bilge water from the engine compartment. The Bonus project ZEB ( Zero Emissions in the Baltic Sea) has developed technology that purifies bilge water to near-zero levels of contaminants.
  • | pressrelease
    Industry and transport – greatest challenges for carbon neutral Nordic countries
    In the end of May a Nordic edition of the renowned International Energy Agency (IEA) global publication Energy Technology Perspectives was launched. The report shows that the Nordic countries can achieve a carbon-neutral region by 2050 by cooperating – but it requires that politicians take the challenges that the industries are facing seriously and increase the tempo within the area of transport.
  • | news
    IVL researcher heading to China for air studies
    IVL researcher Åsa Hallquist will, during six weeks in Beijing and three months in Hong Kong, measure secondary air pollution on behalf of a five-year long project regarding photochemical smog in China.
  • | news
    Several environmental benefits from using sea squirt in fish farms
    Sustainable fish, bioenergy and cleaner water can be the results of creating a local circular production system by integrating fish farming with the cultivation of sea squirt and macro algae. In the sea outside of Lysekil in Sweden the cultivation of sea squirt is already ongoing and will now be further developed.
  • | pressrelease
    Large climate benefits from eating less meat – but still difficult to achieve the emissions target
    Reducing meat consumption has a large climate benefit – much larger than just switching from beef and pork to chicken, according to a model developed by researchers at IVL. The model is used for calculating the impact that different policy instruments may have on the European food consumption. The study also clearly shows that food consumption is a big challenge if we are to achieve the emission target of two tonnes of carbon dioxide per person and year.
  • | pressrelease
    New data on European food waste
    New figures show that Europeans in average discard 173 kilograms of food per person and year. This is far more than earlier estimates have shown. All combined about 88 million tons of food ends up in the garbage. The largest contributors are households.
  • | pressrelease
    Tire wear foremost source of microplastics
    On behalf of the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute has mapped the sources and pathways of microplastics. The main sources are tire and road wear particles (TRWP) produced during the interaction of a tire with the roadway surface, followed by rubber granulate from artificial turf infill. The percentages of the micro plastics from these sources that ends up in the marine environment are, however, very uncertain.
  • | news
    Consultation response to EU proposal on circular economy
    IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute has submitted a response to the European Commission circular economy package. IVL believes the proposal to be both positive and progressive, and applauds the holistic approach taken to drive development towards a circular economy.
  • | news
    Mistra Indigo – an important contribution to the global climate policy framework
    During four years of intense study the Indigo Mistra research project, led by IVL, has scrutinized economic and political instruments that might able to halt climate change. Initiatives taken by both individual states and new business interests show some promise. On March 10, Mistra Indigo hosted its concluding conference in Stockholm.
  • | pressrelease
    Unique method measures endotoxins
    Researchers from IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute have developed a unique method of measuring bacterial toxins – so-called endotoxins. Endotoxins pose a health risk for personnel who handle organic waste, and have been identified as a causal factor of many serious illnesses, such as chronic bronchitis and asthma.
  • | pressrelease
    Recycling wastewater cost-effective and ecosmart
    With the right technology wastewater recycling can be both cost effective and regenerate ultra-pure water that can be returned to the groundwater or used in agriculture and industry. This has been shown by a research project carried out by IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute and Xylem, a provider of fluid technology solutions.
  • | pressrelease
    The pathways of plastic debris from the city to the sea will be mapped in new EU project
    A full 80 percent of all the garbage that ends up in the ocean comes from the land, and 60 percent of this debris is plastic. In the common EU project Blastic countries around the Baltic Sea will now find out the sources and pathways in urban areas that lead to trash ending up in the marine environment. IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute is participating in the project that is led by the Håll Sverige Rent (Keep Sweden Tidy) Foundation.
  • | news
    Sheba BONUS programme to become flagship research project
    The IVL-coordinated BONUS Sheba Project has been designated flagship project within the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region and will thus achieve wider policy impact.
  • | news
    IVL celebrates 50 years of research
    It’s been 50 years since the government and industry jointly formed the first Swedish environmental research institute - IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute. Throughout 2016 we will highlight this jubilee in several ways, linking the past with our present and the future.
  • | news
    IVL to identify sources of microplastics in the oceans
    The Swedish authorities aim to reduce the spread of microplastics in the environment. As part of this effort, last fall the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency commissioned IVL to identify the sources and pathways of microplastics in the marine environment. The study will be completed by the summer of 2016.
  • | news
    New UN sustainable development goals will combat social exclusion
    January 18, 2016 marked the start of Sweden’s efforts to achieve the United Nation’s new sustainable development goals. One of these goals is that cities and communities are to include all its residents. Anja Karlsson and Susanna Roth from IVL have investigated how the use of participatory processes can increase social sustainability, thereby reducing social exclusion and alienation.
  • | news
    Record number of registered environmental product declarations
    As many as 139 new environmental product declarations, so-called EPDs, were registered in the international EPD system during 2015. An increase with more than 20 registrations compared to the previous year. About half of the EPDs registered are related to engineering products.
  • | news
    IVL hosts training course for Chinese air quality researchers
    During two weeks a delegation of twelve people from the city of Tianjin, are visiting IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute to participate in a training program in air pollution management.