In the first quarter of 2022, EU economy greenhouse gas emissions totalled 1 029 million tonnes of CO2-equivalents (CO2-eq), a 7% and 6% increase compared with the same quarter of 2020 and 2021, but still below pre-COVID levels registered in the first quarter of 2019, when the EU economy emitted 1 035 million tonnes of CO2-eq.
This information comes from data on quarterly estimates for greenhouse gas emissions by economic activity published by Eurostat today. The article presents a handful of findings from the more detailed Statistics Explained article on quarterly greenhouse gas emissions.
The documented increases were largely due to the effect of the economic rebound after the sharp decrease in activity due to the COVID-19 crisis.
Source dataset: env_ac_aigg_q
In the first quarter of 2022, the economic sectors responsible for most emissions of greenhouse gases were households (24%), electricity, gas supply (21%) and manufacturing (20%), followed by agriculture (12%) and transportation and storage (10%). Greenhouse gas emissions increased in all sectors compared with the same period of 2021, except for households which remained at the same level (245 million tonnes of CO2-eq.). The highest increases were recorded in transportation and storage (+21%), mining (+15%) and construction (+11%).
Source dataset: env_ac_aigg_q
Emissions in the first quarter of 2022 increased in almost all EU Member States when compared with the same quarter of 2021, indicating a recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. The Netherlands (-9%) and Finland (-1%) were the only Member States that registered a decrease in emissions in the first quarter of 2022 compared with the first quarter of 2021. Among the Member States with increased emissions in the same comparison period were Bulgaria (+38%), Malta (+21%) and Ireland (+20%).
When comparing the first quarter of 2020 with the same quarter of 2019, it revealed the opposite picture: almost all EU Member States registered a reduction in emissions at the beginning of the pandemic.
For more information:
- Statistics Explained article on quarterly greenhouse gas emissions
- Database on climate change
- Dedicated section on climate change-related statistics
- Overview of the key types of greenhouse (GHG) emission estimates that are regularly published by bodies of the European Union (EU), including the EU inventory and the EU annual climate progress report, including inventory emissions for the Member States, published annually in quarter 4.
Methodological notes:
- Metadata on quarterly greenhouse gas emissions
- Greenhouse gases cause climate change. The so-called ‘Kyoto basket’ of greenhouse gases includes carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O) and fluorinated gases. They are expressed in a common unit, CO2-equivalents.
- The data presented here are estimates by Eurostat, except for the Netherlands, who provided their own estimates. Developments of quarterly emissions at country level should be interpreted with caution, since they may be affected by very country-specific circumstances such as e.g. temporal shutdowns of power plants. Eurostat’s methodology differs from the monitoring and reporting of greenhouse gas emissions under the UN rules, which provides annual data on EU progress towards its targets. A main methodological difference is an attribution to individual countries of international transport and the corresponding air emissions. The Eurostat estimates include the international transport emissions in the total for each country, according to the international System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA).
- The EU inventory is based on annual inventory reports by the Member States and is prepared and quality checked by the European Environment Agency on behalf of the Commission and submitted to the UNFCCC each spring. The period covered by the inventory starts in 1990 and runs up until 2 years before the current year (e.g. in 2021 the inventories cover greenhouse gas emissions up to 2019). According to the European Climate Law, the EU’s climate target is to achieve -55% net reduction by 2030 and climate neutrality by 2050.
- EU countries are required to monitor their emissions under-reporting rules based on internationally agreed obligations in line with guidelines from the IPCC. The reporting covers emissions of seven greenhouse gases from all sectors: energy, industrial processes, land use, land use change & forestry (LULUCF), waste, agriculture, etc. As parties to the UNFCCC, its Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement, the EU and the Member States report annually on their greenhouse gas emissions to the UN ('greenhouse gas inventories').
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