The European Environment Agency (EEA) has revealed that greenhouse gas emissions in the 27 European Union (EU) member states fell in 2011, despite the second largest decline in the consumption of renewable energy in 21 years.

According to the EEA's 'Annual European Union greenhouse gas inventory 1990-2011 and inventory report 2013', emissions in 2011 were 18.4 per cent below 1990 levels (4550.2 million tonnes compared to 5574.4 million), or 17 per cent lower when international aviation is accounted for, according to the EU greenhouse gas inventory.

This reduction in emissions is actually larger than the EEA’s previous estimates, published last year. The agency stated that this was due to ‘complete and final energy data’ not being available when the original estimates were published.

The EEA stated that this reduction was largely due to a mild winter, resulting in lower demand for heating. Emissions in 2011 were 3.3 per cent lower than 2010 levels, alongside a 1.6 per cent increase in EU gross domestic product (GDP).

Yet despite this, the consumption of energy from renewable sources suffered the second largest decline in percentage terms since 1990. The EEA attributes this to ‘significantly lower hydroelectricity production’. However, wind and solar energy consumption increased ‘strongly’ in 2011.

Jacqueline McGlade, EEA Executive Director, commented on the figures: “The greenhouse gas emissions cut in 2011 is good news, however, it was largely due to a warmer winter. Nonetheless, the EU is making clear progress towards its emission targets.

“There was an increase in consumption of more carbon-intensive fuels such as coal, while hydroelectricity production and gas consumption decreased. If Europe is to achieve the transition towards a low-carbon society, it will need sustained investment in technology and innovation”, she continued.

Almost two thirds of the 2011 emissions reductions (62 per cent) came from the UK, France and Germany, with the largest increases in emissions coming from Romania, Bulgaria and Spain.

However, a recent report from the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) found that despite a decline in the level of carbon emissions produced in the UK, the British carbon footprint has actually increased by 10 per cent over the last two decades, due to the rise of imported goods. This was further illustrated in a short animation produced by the Public Interest Research Centre (PIRC), which claimed that ‘by considering only our territorial emissions, we make the impacts of our escalating consumption disappear in a puff of black smoke: we have offshored the problem, and our perceptions of it.’

Other findings

Fossil fuel consumption fell by five per cent across the EU. However, the average carbon intensity of those fossil fuels used actually increased, with the EEA claiming that solid fuel consumption, such as hard coal and lignite, rose by almost 2 per cent between 2010 and 2011.

However, liquid fuel consumption decreased by 4 per cent and natural gas consumption fell by almost 11 per cent. The use of biomass as a fuel increased by less than one per cent.

The use of nuclear power also decreased, in large part due to the closure of power plants in Germany in reaction to the 2011 Fukushima disaster in Japan. The German government aims to close all nuclear power plants currently operating in the country by 2022, with Environment Minister Norbert Röttgen stating: “It's definite. The latest end for the last three nuclear power plants is 2022. There will be no clause for revision.”

Early indications for 2012

Although the official total EU greenhouse gas emissions inventory data does not go beyond 2011, the EEA states that other emission data sets can create an ‘increasingly complete picture of emissions changes in 2012’. This suggests the following outlook for 2012 data:

• verified greenhouse gas emissions in sectors covered by the EU Emissions Trading System (which covers approximately 40 per cent of the total EU greenhouse gas emissions) fell by two per cent between 2011 and 2012;
• early estimates based on monthly energy statistics of carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel combustion (covering approximately 80 per cent of EU total greenhouse gas emissions) also point to a 2.1 per cent decrease between 2011 and 2012;

In ‘early autumn’ the EEA will publish the Approximated EU Greenhouse Gas Inventory, covering total EU emissions for 2012. The official EU greenhouse gas inventory for 2012 will become available in late May 2014.

Read more about the 2011 emissions data.