Sweden seems to have found the recipe to growing its economy while protecting the climate.

"You don't need to reduce welfare to reduce your climate impact," said Mattias Goldmann, founder of the Swedish 2030-secretariat, who works towards Sweden reaching its climate target for the national transport sector.

Sweden outperforms all other European countries when it comes to reducing net greenhouse gas emissions, according to the European Environment Agency.

The country already emitted five times less CO2 per capita than the European average back in 1990. Since then, Sweden has reduced its net greenhouse gas emissions by another 80%, while the average reduction in the EU has only been 30%.

What's most stunning, though, is that Sweden, a heavily industrialized country which produces steel, cement and cars, managed to clean up its act — while also growing its economy twofold.

So how do you successfully decarbonize an economy while still growing it?

The Scandinavian country has some natural advantages. 70% of Sweden is forest land. And forests are very useful when it comes to reducing greenhouse gas emissions because they remove CO2 from the atmosphere.

The country is also blessed with lots of wind, as well as mountains, streams and lakes — perfect for renewable energy.

But it wasn't just hitting the natural resources jackpot that got the country to where it is now. Sweden realized its natural potential early on and started investing in renewable energy sources much earlier than many other countries.

"Sweden has had hydropower for more than a century," according to Goldmann.

They also cut out fossil fuels from their energy mix back in the 1970s, when the global oil crisis hit. When countries were looking for other sources of energy, Sweden built out nuclear energy quite a lot.

Today, almost 70% of Sweden's electricity comes from renewables, especially hydropower and wind. The rest of its electricity demand is met by nuclear power. This means their greenhouse gas emissions........

© Deutsche Welle