Until recently, Sweden had a voluntary program to promote energy management
systems that was established in 2005 and designed to position energy management as a
strategy to reduce the costs of industry compliance with directives of the European
Union, and the resulting energy taxes on electric power for major energy-using
facilities and new energy efficiency laws that were being implemented by Sweden.
The program for Energy Efficiency (PFE) in energy-intensive industries offered
attractive tax incentives to energy-intensive industries that joined the 5-year program,
provided they met requirements such as certification to an EnMS standard. Since 2011,
Sweden has ISO 50001 as its national standard and integrated certification to ISO
50001 as a core requirement in the PFE. As of January 2014, companies that had
volunteered to participate in the PFE represented over 90% of energy use in the
Swedish energy-intensive sector [13].