The greenhouse gas footprint of goods and services consumed in the EU fell to 9.0 tonnes of CO2 equivalents per person in 2023, down from 10.0 tonnes in 2022.
The footprint measure covers emissions generated across supply chains for products consumed in the EU, including emissions linked to imports, regardless of where they occur, Eurostat reported on Thursday.
Among member states, the lowest footprints were recorded in Portugal at 6.5 tonnes of CO2 equivalents per capita, followed by Bulgaria at 6.8 tonnes and Sweden and Romania at 6.9 tonnes each.
The highest per-capita footprints were in Cyprus at 14.8 tonnes, Ireland at 14.0 tonnes and Luxembourg at 12.7 tonnes.
Production emissions lower than consumption footprint
The total greenhouse gas footprint of all goods and services consumed in the EU was 4.0 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalents in 2023, while emissions generated by production within the EU were 3.3 billion tonnes, Eurostat reported.
From 2013 to 2023, consumption-based emissions fell by 12.9% and production-based emissions fell by 18.6%.
Emissions dropped sharply in 2020 during the pandemic, and by 2023 consumption-based emissions were back at the same level as in 2020, while production-based emissions were 3.5% lower than in 2020.
