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The Nordic marketplace, and in particular the Swedish market, is a sizeable part of the world market for environmentally adapted lubricants (EALs). The largest segment, by far, is EAL hydraulic fluids for mobile hydraulics, and chain saw oils for the environmentally adapted forestry operations (mainly) by the international Swedish and, until recently, Finnish forestry companies. In this paper, some of the important parameters influencing the size and development direction are analysed. These include market regulatory factors, eco‐labels, OEM‐issued standards/specifications, end‐user demands and the market volume development for the period 1999‐2001. The spread of EALs to other forestry markets, Norway and the Baltic States, is also covered.

Environmentally adapted lubricants (EALs) have been a slowly growing segment of the lubricants business since the early 1970s. The evolution of environmental thinking has led to the change of focus, from biodegradability to renewability. In the future, the focus will be more on fuel economy and lower emissions. Technical development drivers include the availability of suitable base fluids and additives for lubricants formulation and the adaptation of technical standards, OEM specifications and eco‐labels. Important non‐technical development drivers include environmental management tools and eco auditing. Environmental policy, and procurement guidelines for cities and government organizations, clearly has a large impact. EALs have been repeatedly heralded as one of the few future growth segments of the lubricants business, hence the relatively large increase in R&D activity over the last decade. In sales terms, growth has been slow, limited by high cost and several other factors. For a good future development, both technical and political hurdles must be overcome.