The EU remains on course to meet its 2030 climate target, but emissions cuts slowed in 2025, according to the European Environment Agency (EEA).
Net greenhouse gas emissions fell by 1.6% in 2025, based on preliminary figures in the EEA’s annual “Trends and Projections in Europe” review, the agency announced on Monday.
When countries’ additional planned policies and measures are included, the EU is projected to cut net greenhouse gas emissions by 54% by 2030 compared with 1990 levels — close to the bloc’s legally binding target of a 55% reduction.
The EEA said turning plans into “real-world emissions reductions” would require full and timely implementation of planned measures.
It added that to reach the target, emissions reductions in sectors covered by the EU’s Effort Sharing Regulation — which includes areas such as road transport, buildings and agriculture — would need to match, over the next five years, the reductions achieved over the previous two decades combined.
Transport and buildings emissions rose in 2025
Net EU greenhouse gas emissions covered by the European Climate Law were 39% below 1990 levels in 2025, the EEA said.
Over the same period, gross domestic product rose by 74% and the population increased by 8%.
Preliminary data for 2025 showed the EU’s net carbon sink under land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF) increased by an amount equivalent to 25 million tonnes of CO₂e compared with the previous year. (A carbon sink is something that absorbs more carbon than it releases, such as forests; CO₂e is a way of comparing different greenhouse gases using carbon dioxide as a standard measure.)
The industrial sector cut emissions by 15 million tonnes of CO₂e compared with 2024.
Emissions rose year-on-year in domestic transport, up 0.3%, and in buildings, up 0.8%, with renewables accounting for 12% of gross final energy consumption in transport and 27% in buildings, compared with 50% of energy production in the power sector.
Since 2005, the annual rate of total EU greenhouse gas emissions reductions has more than doubled, reflecting stronger climate policy and the impact of the EU Emissions Trading System. (The ETS is the EU’s “cap-and-trade” carbon market, which sets a limit on emissions from certain sectors and requires companies to hold permits for the pollution they produce.)
The European Climate Law sets a legally binding target to cut net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030 compared with 1990 levels, and to reach climate neutrality by 2050 at the latest.
