EU greenhouse gas emissions drop 5% in the second quarter

FILE PHOTO: a chimney at Laziska power station is seen behind the Boleslaw Smialy coal mine in Poland

FILE PHOTO: a chimney at Laziska power station, a thermal power plant, is seen behind the Boleslaw Smialy coal mine in Laziska Gorne, Poland, December 5, 2018. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel/File Photo

By Diana Mandia and Augustin Turpin

(Reuters) - Greenhouse gas emissions in the European Union fell by more than 5% in the second quarter of 2023, with the biggest decline recorded in electricity and gas supply, statistics agency Eurostat said on Wednesday.

The EU's emissions between April to June amounted to 821 million tonnes of CO2 equivalents, down 5.3% from a year earlier, while the bloc's economy remained almost stable, registering a year-on-year variation of 0.05% in the period.

RECOMMENDED FOR YOU

A woman walks past flags and towels bearing the images of Brazil's President and presidential candidate Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and right-wing senator and presidential candidate Flavio Bolsonaro for sale in a street in Brasiilia on October 22, 2026.

A wake-up call: The countdown for Latin American democracy — Opinion

Electricity and gas supply, the sector whose emissions fell the most (-22%), contributed 15.5% to the total figure, while agriculture accounted for 14.3% and transportation and storage for 12.8%.

The EU has among the most ambitious climate change policies of any major economy, having passed laws to deliver its 2030 target to cut net emissions by 55% from 1990 levels, which analysts say is the minimum needed to reach net zero emissions by 2050.

To reach its carbon neutrality objective, the bloc earlier this year increased its goal of renewable energy share to 42.5% by 2030 from a previous target of 32%.

The drive to use more renewables, such as wind and solar, drew momentum after the Russian invasion of Ukraine led the EU to end its dependence on Russian fossil fuels, so primarily through locally produced, low-carbon energy.

However, there has been political and industry resistance to green goals.

Manufacturing was the main contributor to greenhouse gas emissions in the second quarter, accounting for 23.5% of the total, followed by households with 17.9%.

The largest reductions in greenhouse gases, responsible for warming the planet, were registered in Bulgaria (-23.7%), Estonia (-23.1%) and the Netherlands (-10.3%), Eurostat said.

Of the 21 EU members that decreased their year-on-year emissions in the second quarter, ten countries (Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, France, Greece, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain) managed to do so while growing their GDP, Eurostat added.

RECOMMENDED FOR YOU

AI is one of 8 strategic pillars of the New Asia Forum

New Asia Forum: Indonesia to set out progress on sustainable AI data centres

This article was produced by Reuters news agency. It has not been edited by Global South World.

By Reuters