EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) emissions fell by 1.3% in 2025 compared with 2024.
The EU ETS is the bloc’s carbon market for sectors including power generation and heavy industry, and has cut emissions in the areas it covers by about half since it began in 2005, the European Commission informed on Friday night.
The latest figures show the system remains on track to meet a 2030 target of cutting emissions by 62%.
Emissions from power generation through burning fossil fuels fell by 0.4% in 2025, while net electricity generation rose by 1.7% compared with the previous year.
Renewables provided 47.3% of the EU’s electricity in 2025, up slightly from 47.2% in 2024, with solar generation rising 24.6% year on year.
Solar power overtook hydropower for the first time to become the EU’s second-largest renewable electricity source after wind, after lower wind speeds and reduced rainfall in Northern Europe pushed down wind and hydro-electricity production.
Despite the overall fall in power-sector emissions, electricity generation from fossil fuels rose by 3.5% in 2025 compared with 2024.
Coal power emissions fell by 6.8% year on year, while electricity generation from natural gas increased by 11.4%.
Industry, aviation and shipping
Emissions from energy-intensive industries fell by 2.5% in 2025, driven mostly by cement as well as iron and steel production, the Commission informed.
The data available by the reporting deadline indicates the drop was partly linked to lower activity in construction and other parts of the economy, it said, adding that further analysis was ongoing because trends varied across sectors.
Emissions from aircraft operators covered by the EU ETS rose slightly compared with 2024 as traffic increased.
For maritime transport, reported emissions were down by around 3%, although reporting for aviation and maritime is still under way and final trends will be clearer once the process is complete.
