EU economy GHG emissions increase in Q2 2022

The documented increase is largely related to the effect of the economic rebound, which can be drawn from gross domestic product (GDP) growth, following the sharp decrease in activity due to the COVID-19 crisis.

This information comes from data on quarterly estimates for greenhouse gas emissions by economic activity published by Eurostat today. Quarterly estimates of greenhouse gas emissions complement quarterly socio-economic data, such as GDP or employment.

In the second quarter of 2022, the economic sectors responsible for the most emissions of greenhouse gases were ‘manufacturing’ (23%), ‘electricity, gas supply’ (19%), and ‘households’ (17%), followed by ‘transportation and storage’ (14%), and ‘agriculture’ (13%).

Greenhouse gas emissions increased in most sectors compared with the same period in 2021, except for ‘households’ and ‘agriculture’, which decreased by 8% (-13 million tonnes of CO2-eq.) and 1% (-1 million tonnes of CO2-eq.), respectively. The highest increases were recorded in ‘transportation and storage’ (+22% or 22 million tonnes of CO2-eq.), ‘electricity, gas supply’ (+6% or 10 million tonnes of CO2-eq.) and ‘services’ (+6% or 4 million tonnes of CO2-eq.)