It's unclear to me if this is part of a cyclic decrease in emissions that is to be expected in any given Q1, but either way the EU is on a downward trend for greenhouse gas emissions. Since 1990,...
It's unclear to me if this is part of a cyclic decrease in emissions that is to be expected in any given Q1, but either way the EU is on a downward trend for greenhouse gas emissions. Since 1990, annual CO2 emissions in the bloc have decreased from 3.6 kilotons (8.49 metric tons per capita) to 2.5 kilotons (5.52 metric tons per capita) in 2022.
Conversely, the region's energy generation is now 22% renewable, more than doubling its 10% in 2005. Some individual nations within and adjacent to the bloc are far more renewable than others: Iceland leads the charge at about 80% renewable in 2021, followed closely by Norway (74%), Sweden (63%), Finland (43%), Latvia (42%), Albania (41%), and Montenegro (40%). Estonia, Austria, Denmark, and Portugal have also already reached the EU's 2030 target of at least 32% renewables.
The worst performers are Luxembourg, Malta and the Netherlands at around 12% each. Major economies like France and Germany are hovering around 20%. The United Kingdom, no longer an EU member state but still an important regional economy, uses about 43% renewable energy as of 2020.
I'm hopeful that the EU's push toward greater renewable energy will yield results faster than their 2030 targets, but I'm not expecting too much of some of them. Most likely, EU directives related to manufacturing and transportation emissions will do a lot of the heavy lifting alongside the regulations implemented by national and regional governments.
It appears the data stops at 2020. Canada also showed a sharp decrease but it's clearly pandemic related, per capita we're slightly trending the right direction but still until the pandemic but...
Since 1990, annual CO2 emissions in the bloc have decreased from 3.6 kilotons (8.49 metric tons per capita) to 2.5 kilotons (5.52 metric tons per capita) in 2022.
It appears the data stops at 2020. Canada also showed a sharp decrease but it's clearly pandemic related, per capita we're slightly trending the right direction but still until the pandemic but overall it was still increasing until stay at home orders were in place.
It's unclear to me if this is part of a cyclic decrease in emissions that is to be expected in any given Q1, but either way the EU is on a downward trend for greenhouse gas emissions. Since 1990, annual CO2 emissions in the bloc have decreased from 3.6 kilotons (8.49 metric tons per capita) to 2.5 kilotons (5.52 metric tons per capita) in 2022.
Conversely, the region's energy generation is now 22% renewable, more than doubling its 10% in 2005. Some individual nations within and adjacent to the bloc are far more renewable than others: Iceland leads the charge at about 80% renewable in 2021, followed closely by Norway (74%), Sweden (63%), Finland (43%), Latvia (42%), Albania (41%), and Montenegro (40%). Estonia, Austria, Denmark, and Portugal have also already reached the EU's 2030 target of at least 32% renewables.
The worst performers are Luxembourg, Malta and the Netherlands at around 12% each. Major economies like France and Germany are hovering around 20%. The United Kingdom, no longer an EU member state but still an important regional economy, uses about 43% renewable energy as of 2020.
I'm hopeful that the EU's push toward greater renewable energy will yield results faster than their 2030 targets, but I'm not expecting too much of some of them. Most likely, EU directives related to manufacturing and transportation emissions will do a lot of the heavy lifting alongside the regulations implemented by national and regional governments.
It appears the data stops at 2020. Canada also showed a sharp decrease but it's clearly pandemic related, per capita we're slightly trending the right direction but still until the pandemic but overall it was still increasing until stay at home orders were in place.