Last year, the Union was able to reduce emissions while maintaining economic growth

Last year, the Union was able to reduce emissions while maintaining economic growth

Greenhouse gas emissions in the 27-member EU fell by 3.7% last year, despite the Union's gross domestic product (GDP) rising by 1.5%. It was announced on Monday by the European Commission (EC) with reference to the EU's annual report on the progress of climate action. The annual report looks at the EU's progress in reducing greenhouse gas emissions in 2019. Compared to 1990 levels, CO2 emissions have fallen by 24%.

Lower emissions despite growth

In this context, the Executive Vice-President for the European Green Agreement, Frans Timmermans, pointed out that the EU has shown that it is possible to reduce emissions while growing economically. At the same time, however, he added that member states must step up their efforts in all sectors of the economy in order to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. Emissions covered by the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) saw the largest decline in 2019, down 9.1% from 2018, equivalent to around 152 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent. The decline was mainly due to the electricity sector, where emissions fell by almost 15%, mainly due to the fact that the production of electricity by burning coal was replaced by the production of electricity from renewable sources and natural gas. Greenhouse emissions created by EU industry fell by almost 2%. Verified emissions from aviation, which currently only cover flights within the European Economic Area (EEA), have continued to increase slightly and have increased by 1% or about 0.7 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent compared to 2018. Emissions not covered by the EU ETS, such as emissions from non-ETS sectors, transport, buildings, agriculture and waste, have not changed significantly compared to 2018 levels.