EU Emissions Disappoint in 2017

European Union emissions of carbon dioxide (CO₂) from fossil fuel combustion last year increased by 1.8% over 2016, according to preliminary estimates from the EU's statistical agency Eurostat released on May 4.  The increase comes as a disappointment to policymakers, after CO₂ emissions decreased by 0.4% year on year in 2016 despite economic growth.

Many EU states increased oil and gas use last year, with EU 2017 gas use reaching a seven-year high because of cool weather and economic growth, while Poland and Germany remained heavily reliant on coal.

Eurostat notes that CO₂ emissions are a major contributor to global warming, accounting for around 80% of all EU greenhouse gas emissions. It says they are influenced by economic growth and population size but also by factors such as colder winter temperatures. 

The largest year-on-year declines in 2017 CO2 emissions were in Finland (-5.9%) and Denmark (-5.8%), whereas the highest increases were in Malta (+12.8%) and Estonia (+11.3%).

Germany and the UK, with the largest populations, both reduced their overall emissions by -0.2% and -3.8% respectively in 2017, accounting for 23% and 11.2% of EU CO₂ emissions respectively. 

In contrast, three countries each accounting for about 10% of EU CO₂ emissions all increased emissions last year: Italy and France by 3.2%, and Poland by 3.8%. Coal still dominates Polish power generation, but increased coal-fired generation last year is understood to have contributed to increases in CO^₂ emissions in Spain (+ 7.4%), Portugal (+7.3%) and Bulgaria (+8.3%) too.

Seven countries reduced emissions, whereas 20 increased theirs; Swedish statistics were not published as they are being revised.

Apart from Finland, Denmark, Germany and the UK, CO₂ emission decreases were also registered in Ireland (-2.9%), Belgium (-2.4%), and Latvia (-0.7%). The full Eurostat data set is available here.