EU's greenhouse gas emissions dropped by 'huge' 8% in 2023

Net greenhouse gas emissions in the EU last year were 37 percent below 1990 levels, even though GDP grew by 68 percent over the same period, data showed.

Emissions linked to buildings, agriculture, domestic transport, small industry and waste fell by 8 percent in 2023, with the latest reports showing that the EU is bucking a global trend for continuously rising emissions. It is still in a race against time to meet its own climate action targets, however.

Greenhouse gas emissions in the EU fell by eight percent in 2023 -- among the biggest drops in decades -- new data showed Thursday, though the bloc remains in a race against time to meet its ambitious climate goals.

The European Environment Agency (EEA) attributed the year-on-year decline to a surge in renewable energy use in the 27-country bloc -- the world’s fourth biggest emitter after India, China and the United States.

“The huge drop was led by a significant decline in coal use and growth of renewable energy sources and supported by reduced energy consumption across Europe,” an EEA statement said.

The European Commission described it as “the largest annual drop in decades, with the exception of 2020 when Covid-19 led to emission cuts of 9.8 percent”.

(AFP)


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