Last year saw a significant decrease of 2.5% in CO2 emissions from burning fossil fuels in the European Union, according to preliminary data published by the Statistical Office of the European Union (Eurostat) on Wednesday 8 May.
A decrease in emissions was recorded in a majority of EU Member States. The largest decrease was recorded in Portugal (-9.0%), followed by Bulgaria (-8.1%), Ireland (-6.8%), Germany (-5.4%), the Netherlands (-4.6%) and Croatia (-4.3%).
By way of contrast, increases were recorded in eight Member States: Latvia (+8.5%), Malta (+6.7%), Estonia (+4.5%), Luxembourg (+3.7%), Poland (+3.5%), Slovakia (+2.4%), Finland (+1.9%) and Lithuania (+0.6%).
Eurostat notes that imports and exports of energy products have an impact on CO2 emissions in the country where fuels are burned. While imported coal leads to an increase in emissions, imported electricity does not have a direct impact on the emissions of the importing country, only affecting the emissions of the country which produced and exported it.
“After four years without substantial emission reductions, the EU has finally started to walk the road to the zero-carbon economy. Now we need to start running decisively”, commented Wendel Trio, the director of the NGO Climate Action Network, in a statement. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)