EU greenhouse gas emissions fell between Q3 2023 and Q3 2024, mostly due to reductions in the electricity and gas supply chain.
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Greenhouse gas emissions in the EU decreased by 0.6% between the third quarter of 2023 and the third quarter of 2024, totalling 767 million tonnes, Eurostat has reported.
Emissions went down in 16 out of 27 member states, most notably in Austria (-7.8%), Hungary (-3.3%) and Denmark (-2.8%).
On the other end of the spectrum, Lithuania reported the highest increase (+7.8%), followed by Luxembourg with 6.6% and Sweden with 6%.
Results hampered by rise in water supply and waste
The decrease in emissions was mostly driven by a large reduction in the electricity and gas supply chain (6.7%) and, more marginally by the transportation and storage sector (-0.9%).
However, that was sullied by increases in water supply and waste management (+2.1%) as well as general services (+1.7%), mining and quarrying (+1.1%) among other areas.
Eurostat notes that only a quarter of the 16 countries which reduced greenhouse gas emissions had a decline in their GDP: Hungary, Austria, Estonia and Romania.
"The other 12 EU countries (Malta, Croatia, Spain, Denmark, Czechia, Portugal, France, the Netherlands, Poland, Belgium, Finland and Germany) were estimated to have decreased emissions while growing their GDP," according to Eurostat's findings.