The EU economy and households emitted 3.3 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases in 2024 — measured in “CO₂ equivalents”, which combines different gases into a single comparable unit — down 1% on 2023 and 20% compared with 2013.
The steepest fall over the 2013 to 2024 period came from the energy sector — covering the supply of electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning — where emissions dropped 49%, or 512 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalents, Eurostat informed on Friday.
Manufacturing emissions fell 18% (146 million tonnes), while mining and quarrying declined 37% (25 million tonnes) and services fell 14% (36 million tonnes) over the same period.
Transport and storage was one of only two parts of the economy to record higher emissions, up 14% since 2013, or 57 million tonnes.
Construction emissions rose 6% over the period, an increase of 3 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalents.
Emissions per euro of output fell across most of the EU
The EU’s greenhouse gas emissions intensity — the amount of emissions per euro of “gross value added”, a measure of economic output — fell 34% from 2013 to 2024, Eurostat reported.
The monitor said this coincided with a 20% rise in the EU’s value added over the same period.
Among individual countries, the biggest cuts in emissions intensity were recorded in Estonia (down 64%), Ireland (down 50%) and Finland (down 44%), while Malta was the only member state to see an increase, up 17%.
