Climate-damaging carbon dioxide emissions in the EU decreased by 4.3 percent in 2019, according to an early estimate by Eurostat. The opposite trend was observed for Austria: In this country, CO2 emissions are expected to increase by 2.8 percent compared to 2018, as the European statistics authority announced on Wednesday.
At minus 22.1 percent, Estonia is estimated to be the EU country with the largest decline. Denmark is in second place with minus nine percent, followed by Greece and Slovakia (both minus 8.9 percent), Portugal (minus 8.7 percent) and Spain (minus 7.2 percent). In addition to Austria, increases are also assumed for three other EU countries: Luxembourg with 7.5 percent, Malta with two percent and Lithuania with 1.6 percent. According to Eurostat, CO2 emissions in Cyprus remain unchanged.
Carbon dioxide emissions arise from the combustion of fossil fuels such as oil and petroleum products, coal, peat and natural gas. They make a significant contribution to global warming, make up around 80 percent of total EU greenhouse gas emissions and are influenced by factors such as climatic conditions, economic growth, population size, as well as transport and industrial activities.
Germany is expected to have the largest share of the total CO2 emissions of the 27 EU countries at around 25 percent in 2019. Italy is in second place with 11.8 percent, Poland and France share third place with 11.2 percent each. Austria’s share is two percent.
According to Eurostat, CO2 emissions from the combustion of fossil fuels arise in the country in which the energy carrier is burned, such as for the purpose of generating electricity, for internal combustion engines in traffic, in steel production. The European Statistical Office reports a clear decline in the consumption of solid fossil fuels (hard coal, lignite and shale oil and oil sands) in 2019.
The main reason for this can be seen in the significantly increased price for emission rights according to the EU emissions trading system compared to 2018, it said on Wednesday. This makes it economically unattractive to use solid fossil fuels primarily for electricity production, because these fuels emit more CO2 per megawatt hour of electricity generated than other fuels such as natural gas. In order to compensate for the reduced use of solid fuels, EU members would use more natural gas and renewable energy sources for electricity production or import missing amounts of electricity from other countries.
Source: APA
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