As the Riksbank’s foreign exchange reserves consist primarily of bonds issued by governments, this means that the Riksbank uses mainly countries’ greenhouse gas emissions for calculating the carbon footprint. The foreign exchange reserves also consist of bonds issued by regions (Australian states and Canadian provinces) and, for these holdings, the respective region’s greenhouse gas emissions are used in the calculations.

There is currently no global standard for measuring the carbon footprint of a portfolio of bonds issued by countries or regions, and the methods available are continually being adapted and refined. It is common to use a production-based method to calculate the carbon footprint.^[19] See NGFS (2021) p. 24. This measures emissions from all goods and services produced within the borders of the country/region over a period of one year.^[20] For the Riksbank’s holdings in bonds issued by Australian states and Canadian provinces, greenhouse gas emissions are used for each region. For regions, the gross regional product (GRP) is used instead of the country’s GDP. The measure thus assumes that a country’s national and/or regional government is responsible for all emissions within its jurisdiction. This is in view of its role as executive power with responsibility for governance of the country/region.

The production-based measure calculates greenhouse gas emissions converted into carbon dioxide equivalents in relation to gross domestic product (GDP, the value of goods and services produced in a country or region) over the same period.