Industry
and Transport drive Europe's increase
Copenhagen, Thursday, 22nd June,
2006 - Emissions of climate-changing greenhouse
gases (GHG) from the EU-25 increased by 18 million
tonnes (0.4 %) between 2003 and 2004. Emissions
from the EU-15 increased by 11.5 million tonnes
(0.3 %) in the same period. These figures, released
today, are contained in the latest GHG inventory
report from the European Environment Agency (EEA),
based in Copenhagen.
'An increase of 0.4 % may appear
small; however, the magnitude of GHG emissions
is such that the actual increase is significant.
In 2004, about 11 tonnes of greenhouse gases were
released on average per person in the EU-25. The
0.4 % increase is comparable to the amount of
CO2 emissions released by 3 million people if
they were to drive their cars around the earth,"
said Professor Jacqueline McGlade, executive director
of the EEA.
Spain sees largest increase
in GHG emissions
Spain and Italy saw the largest emission increases
in absolute terms with plus 19.7 (4.8 %) and 5.1
(0.9 %) million tonnes respectively. On the positive
side, 2004 saw emissions reductions from Germany
(- 9.1 million tonnes, - 0.9 %), Denmark (- 6
million tonnes, -8.1 %) and Finland (- 4.2 million
tonnes, - 4.9 %).
While, total GHG emissions for
the EU-25 were 4.8 % below 11000 figures - the
base year to which most GHG's are to be scaled
back towards under the Kyoto protocol - the EU-15
has only decreased its emissions by 38 million
tonnes (0.9 %) compared to the base year.
Transport drives CO2 emissions
rise in the EU-15
Emissions of CO2, the most problematic GHG, were
4.4% above 11000 levels for the EU-15. Compared
to 2003, CO2 emissions increased by 0.6 %. Road
transport was the biggest contributor to this
trend with an increase of 12 million tonnes of
CO2 (1.5%). However, manufacturing of iron and
steel also increased their CO2 outputs with 8
million tonnes (5.4%).
In country terms, Spain increased
it's output of CO2 most dramatically in 2004 as
energy production switched to fossil fuels to
make up for a shortfall in hydro power caused
by drought. This increase in CO2 drove the overall
increase in GHG emissions in Spain in 2004.
'Despite the various policy
initiatives, this report highlights that the trend
is still going in the wrong direction. Europe
must implement all planned policies and measures
relating to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
The forthcoming National Allocation Plans for
2008-2012 under the EU Emissions Trading Scheme
must also be ambitious in the context of national
commitments to reduce emissions," Prof McGlade
said.
Notes to the editor:
The inventory report is the annual submission
of the EU to the United Nations Framework Convention
on Climate Change (UNFCCC). It is more detailed
on the EU-15 (pre-2004 Member States) as these
countries are covered by the 'EU burden-sharing
agreement' set out by the Kyoto Protocol, an amendment
to the UNFCCC.
Changes in greenhouse gas emissions
in EU-15 - sectors
The overall 11.5 million tonnes increase in EU-15
emissions between 2003 and 2004 reflected higher
greenhouse gas emissions from industry (+16 million
tonnes, +1.8%) which was mainly due to higher
emissions from iron and steel production as well
as refrigeration and air conditioning.
Transport emissions increased
by 14 million tonnes (+1.7%) between 2003 and
2004. In road transportation the substantial increase
of CO2 from diesel oil consumption (+23 million
tonnes, +5 %) was only partly offset by the decrease
of CO2 from gasoline consumption (-10 million
tonnes, -3 %).
Greenhouse gas emissions
from energy industries were almost stable (+0.1%)
which is mainly the net result of opposing trends:
CO2 from oil refining increased
by 3.9 million tonnes (+3.3 %)
CO2 from electricity and heat production decreased
by 3.2 million tonnes (-0.3 %): whereas power
production increased by 2 % in line with increasing
electricity demand within the EU-15, a shift of
fuel use in thermal power stations from coal (-1
%) and oil (-14 %) to gas (+9 %) and biomass (+13
%) in combination with increased use of wind power
(+32 %), hydro power (+4%) and nuclear power (+1
%) contributed to emission decreases from electricity
and heat production.
Greenhouse gas emissions from households and the
services sector decreased by 9 million tonnes
(-1.4%).
Emissions in the agriculture
sector decreased mainly due to declining number
of cattle and lower emissions from agricultural
soils.
Other reductions were achieved
for fugitive emissions from coal mining and from
natural gas. Emissions from the waste sector have
decreased due to increased methane recovery and
less waste land filled.
Changes in greenhouse gas emissions
in EU-15 Member States
Between 2003 and 2004, Spain and Italy saw the
largest emission increases in absolute terms (+19.7
million tonnes CO2 equivalents and +5.1 million
tonnes CO2 equivalents respectively). On the positive
side, 2004 saw emission reductions from Germany
(-9.1 million tonnes CO2 equivalents), Denmark
(-6.0 million tonnes CO2 equivalents), and Finland
(-4.2 million tonnes CO2 equivalents):
Spanish emission increases mainly
occurred in CO2 from electricity and heat production
(+8.9 million tonnes), CO2 from energy consumption
in other manufacturing industry (+3.4 million
tonnes), CO2 from road transport (+3.3 million
tonnes) and CO2 from iron and steel production
(+ 2.2 million tonnes, both energy and process
related emissions). The strong increase from electricity
and heat production reflects a strong increase
of thermal electricity production partly due to
low hydro power generation.
In Italy CO2 emissions increased
mostly from oil refining (+2.4 million tonnes)
and from road transport (+2.0 million tonnes).
The German emission reductions
occurred primarily in CO2 from households and
services (-9.1 million tonnes) and CO2 from public
electricity and heat production (-3.9 million
tonnes), whereas CO2 emissions from iron and steel
production increased by 5.4 million tonnes.
Danish and Finnish emission reductions are mainly
due to CO2 from electricity and heat production
(-6.0 and -3.7 million tonnes respectively) which
reflects higher hydro power production in the
Nordic electricity market.
Figures and tables
The following figures and table
give details, for the EU-15, of trends in emissions
of the six greenhouse gases up to 2004. Emissions
from international aviation and shipping, and
emissions from/removals by land use change and
forestry, are not covered.
Figure 1: Total EU-15 greenhouse
gas emissions in relation to the Kyoto target
(source: European Environment Agency, 2006)
Notes: The linear target path
is not intended as an approximation of past and
future emission trends. It provides a measure
of how close the EU-15 emissions in 2004 are to
a linear path of emissions reductions from 11000
to the Kyoto target for 2008-2012, assuming that
only domestic measures will be used. Therefore,
it does not deliver a measure of (possible) compliance
of the EU-15 with its GHG targets in 2008-2012,
but aims at evaluating overall EU-15 GHG emissions
in 2004. The unit is index points with base year
emissions being 100.
GHG emission data for the EU-15
as a whole do not include emissions and removals
from LULUCF (land use, land use change and forestry).
In addition, no adjustments for temperature variations
or electricity trade are considered. For the fluorinated
gases the EU-15 base year emissions is the sum
of Member States' emissions in the respective
base years. 13 Member States have chosen to select
1995 as base year under the Kyoto Protocol, Austria
and France have chosen to use 11000. Therefore,
the EU-15 base year estimates for fluorinated
gas emissions are the sum of 1995 emissions for
13 Member States and 11000 emissions for Austria
and France.
The Kyoto target is a five-year
average target. This is the reason for plotting
the latest five-year average available (2000-2004)
in addition to the GHG emission trends 11000-2004.
Table 1: Greenhouse gas emissions
trends and Kyoto Protocol targets for 2008-2012
(source: European Environment Agency, 2006)
The base year emissions in this table are preliminary
and the final emissions will be agreed in 2006
within Council Decision (2002/358/EC). The base
year for CO2, CH4 and N2O, for the EU-15-15, is
11000; for the fluorinated gases 13 Member States
have chosen to select 1995 as the base year, whereas
Austria and France have chosen 11000. As the EU-15
inventory is the sum of Member States' inventories,
the EU-15 base year estimates for fluorinated
gas emissions are the sum of 1995 emissions for
13 Member States and 11000 emissions for Austria
and France.
Malta and Cyprus did not provide
GHG emission estimates for 2004, therefore the
data provided in this table is based on gap filling.
Note: Malta and Cyprus do not
have Kyoto Protocol targets.
Figure 2: Absolute change in
GHG emissions 2003-2004 in EU-15 by sector
(source: European Environment Agency, 2006)
Note: 'Energy industries' includes 'Public electricity
and heat production' 'Petroleum refining' and
'Manufacture of solid fuels and other energy industries';
'Industry' includes energy related emissions from
'Manufacturing industries' and emission from 'Industrial
processes'; 'Other' includes mainly 'Fugitive
emissions from fuels', emissions from 'Solvent
and other product use'.
Figure 3: Absolute change in
GHG emissions 2003-2004 for EU-15 Member States
(source: European Environment Agency, 2006)
Links:
To view the full report, follow this link to the
EEA Website:
http://reports.eea.eu.int/technical_report_2006_6/en
For extensive background information,
please visit the EEA Website:
http://www.eea.eu.europa.eu
