Sweden plans oil-free economy

• Sweden wants to end oil dependency by 2020
• Iceland and Brazil reduce oil use, too
• Unstable oil prices and supply to blame

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Sweden hopes to end its dependency on oil within 15 years, according to a report in The Guardian newspaper today.

With the price of oil rising and supply fluctuating, the country aims to develop biofuels from its forests so that, according to government minister Mona Sahlin, 'No driver should need to use only gasoline' by 2020.

Sweden is not the only country which wants to switch from fossil fuels to renewables, but it has one of the tightest deadlines. Iceland hopes to power all its cars with hydrogen by 2050 while Brazil aims for 80% of its transport fleet to be powered by ethanol derived from sugar beet. Brazil aims to double its ethanol production by 2013.

The UK has a target of 2010 for fuel companies to sell at least 5% of fuel from renewable sources – 20 times the level of biofuels sold in the UK today.