Financing Swedish municipalities

This factsheet offers some introductory insights into how municipal governments are financed and what their budgets entail. It draws upon research carried out by the Viable Cities’ Finance project, which assesses how cities can fund their investments in sustainability. We provide examples of nine Swedish municipalities: Gothenburg, Linköping, Lund, Malmö, Nacka, Örebro, Östersund, Västerås and Vellinge. These cities were selected as they have all issued a green bond, a labelled bond where the proceeds are designated for green investments, and our research project partly focuses on the role of external financing in achieving Agenda 2030. Together, these municipalities represent 17% of the Swedish population. 

The analysis covers the financial situation of the cities’ expenditure and the expenditure of the cities’ companies. For example, schools and housing associations, set up as separate legal entities.