EU greenhouse gas emissions rebound to pre-pandemic levels

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Greenhouse gas emissions in the European Union have reached their highest levels since the end of 2019, according to the EU's official stats office, Eurostat.

Driven by an economic rebound after the global economy ground almost to a halt owing to lockdowns in 2020, greenhouse gas emissions reached over one billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent for the fourth quarter of 2021, with numbers expected to continue to climb for this year.

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Put simply, greenhouse gas emissions for Q4 2021 saw an 8% increase from Q4 2020, by which time many national lockdowns had come to an end with falling cases.

Emissions increased in all member states when compared with the same quarter in 2020, with Estonia (+28%), Bulgaria (27%), Sweden (+14%), and Latvia and Belgium (both +13%) registering particularly large spikes, especially when compared to the decrease registered between 2019 and 2020.

Other states, such as Cyprus (+0.3%), the Netherlands and Slovenia (both +2%) and Luxembourg (+3%) still registered net increases, albeit far lower. This is likely due to an increased share of renewables in energy generation or lower overall demand.

Eurostat looks at greenhouse gas emissions - including carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, methane, sulphur hexafluoride and various hydrocarbons - generated through industry, business and households.

All are calculated to their equivalent carbon-dioxide emissions - the "gold standard" for measuring pollution.

By far the largest single emitter was households (21%), which primarily generate emissions through air conditioning or heating, followed closely by the manufacturing sector and electricity generation (both 21%), agriculture (12%) and transport (11%).

All sectors recorded across-the-board increases over 2020, likely due to the demand slump seen during the pandemic, with mining, transport and electricity seeing the largest spikes.

Energy prices in 2020 sunk to an all-time low towards the end of 2020, but the end of 2021 was met with an energy crisis linked with a shortage of natural gas, which has only been exacerbated by the Russia-Ukraine war.

As such, the EU has pushed the green transition into gear, vowing to increase the market share of renewables and other lower-carbon fuels, including gas, in a bid to not only quit fossil fuels but also Russian gas.

Despite greenhouse gas emissions reaching their highest levels since 2019, the Commission claims emissions are still down year-on-year and have seen overall decreases since 2008.

For example, in 2020, emissions stood at 24% lower than 2008 numbers, although 2021 will see a lower net gain due to emissions being on the rise again.

Europe also appears to be exceeding its renewable energy targets, having more than doubled since 2004, and taking up a larger amount of the energy mix year on year.

Read more: Europe is exceeding its renewable energy targets

That being said, there are still significant strides to go before any country in Europe reaches net-zero. Industry Europe has an ongoing series looking into the net-zero goals of countries and how close they are to their climate goals.

Norway and Iceland have by far the largest share of renewables, according to Eurostat, whereas countries such as Belgium and Luxembourg have significantly lower levels of renewables generation.

In addition, other nations, such as France, have especially high levels of nuclear generation, which could prove an effective alternative to renewable energy.

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