Many associate Sweden with high social welfare, verdant landscapes and a pristine environment. Indeed, this wealthy Nordic country is arguably a poster child of sustainable development.

But even Sweden is facing a multi-faceted threat to its vision of sustainable development, said Kristina Persson, Sweden's Minister for Strategic Development and Nordic Cooperation.

Speaking at a recent forum hosted by the Shanghai Federation of Social Science Associations, Persson deviated from the conventional narrative that Sweden has a small carbon footprint.

She cited a 2010 study commissioned by the World Wildlife Fund, which found that "if everybody uses natural resources as we do in Sweden, we will need 3.7 planets."

Persson explained that before Sweden embarked on industrialization, it was even poorer than India. Later, when its economy took off, pollution and emissions also grew in tandem.

By 1990, the country had per capita carbon emissions of 8.5 tons, but thanks to an environmental movement and new types of environment-friendly technologies, per capita emissions decreased to 6.1 tons by 2012. Over the same period, China's carbon emissions per capita soared from 2.1 tons to 7.2 tons. Meanwhile, the world average edged up from 4.3 tons to 4.9 tons.

From these figures it's clear that Sweden does have a smaller carbon footprint than some nations, but its footprint isn't nearly as small as expected in absolute terms.

Great achievement

What's so remarkable about Sweden is that it manages to keep its economy growing at about 2 percent annually — to the envy of much of Europe — while also reducing its carbon footprint. In Persson's words, "this is a great achievement," indicating that the Swedish economy has weaned itself off high-carbon growth.