EU economy's greenhouse gas emissions down 4% in Q4 2022

Compared with the pre-pandemic fourth quarter of 2019, EU economy greenhouse gas emissions decreased by 6 per cent (from 994 to 938 million tonnes of CO2-eq), as per the data on quarterly estimates for greenhouse gas emissions by economic activity published by Eurostat.

In the fourth quarter of 2022, the economic sectors responsible for the most greenhouse gas emissions were ‘manufacturing’ and ‘households’ (each with 21 per cent), ‘electricity, gas supply’ (20 per cent), ‘agriculture’ (13 per cent), followed by ‘transportation and storage’ (11 per cent).

Data show that compared with the fourth quarter of 2021, emissions decreased in 6 out of 9 economic sectors. The only 3 sectors in which emissions increased were transportation and storage (7 per cent), services (except transport and storage) (1.6 per cent) and mining and quarrying (1 per cent).

Emissions in the fourth quarter of 2022 decreased in almost all EU countries when compared with the same quarter of 2021, except for Ireland (12.3 per cent), Latvia (6.8 per cent), Malta (6.4 per cent) and Denmark (1.9 per cent), where they increased. This group of EU members also saw their GDP increase.

Among the EU countries that reduced greenhouse gas emissions, the largest decreases were registered in Slovenia (15.9 per cent), Netherlands (9.9 per cent) and Slovakia (6.9 per cent).

Of the 23 EU countries that saw a decrease in emissions, only 5 recorded a decrease in their GDP (Estonia, Luxembourg, Lithuania, Finland, and Sweden), meaning most managed to decrease emissions while growing their GDP.

ALCHEMPro News Desk (KD)