In an incredible feat, according to the official EU data reported this week by the European Environment Agencyto the UN, the total greenhouse gas emissions in the European Union were measured at their lowest level since the year 1990.
These numbers show that there has been an overall reduction in the 2020 greenhouse gas emissions of 34% as compared to the 1990 base year, which was 1.94 billions tons of CO2.
Before the pandemic, the EU managed to reduce their emissions rates by 26% in 2019, achieving its 20% target even before the lockdowns began to make an impact on the emission levels.
The major moves that led to these reductions in emissions throughout the past three decades include ‘the growing use of renewables, the use of less carbon intensive fossil fuels, and improvements in energy efficiency.’ Moreover, European winters have also become warmer than before.
Every sector managed to reduce their emissions aside from the transport, refrigeration, and air conditioning sections. However, there has been a decrease over the last few years in the air conditioning division.
The EU has also continued to chronicle significant reductions in gas emissions in 2020, sharing that there has been an 11% drop as compared to the numbers in 2019.
The European Environment Agency report shared that almost every EU Member States managed to reduce emissions compared to the rates back in 1990, which have contributed to the overall great performance of the EU.
The report also shared that Germany and the UK – which withdrew as a member of the EU back in February of 2020 – covered 47% of the total net reductions throughout the past 30 years.
Moreover, the report also says, ‘the reduction of 11% from 2019 to 2020 would amount to 8.5% if international aviation emissions are excluded. Emissions from international aviation decreased by 59% between 2019 and 2020.’
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