Climate change - drivingforces Statistics Explained

Source : Statistics Explained (https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statisticsexplained/) - 24/08/2020 1

Based on data available in August 2020.Planned article update: August 2021.

This article presents some of the driving forces behind greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the European Union(EU) . The analysis is based on statistics available from Eurostat that help to unravel the development in GHGemissions by comparing them with statistics offering information on the underlying factors. GHG emissions asresult of human activities cause anthropogenic climate change. The EU contributes ambitiously to the globalefforts to fight climate change and reduce GHG emissions. The EU wants to commit to being climate neutralin 2050 by introducing the first European Climate Law.1The Commission’s ambitions are tied in with the ParisAgreement on climate change, which entered into force on 4 November 2016. The central aim of the ParisAgreement on climate change is to keep the increase in the global temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.

This article shows that GHG emissions in the EU-27 have decreased by 21 % since 1990. The main driv-ing forces behind the fall in total GHG emissions are improvements in energy efficiency and in the energy mix.Due to technological changes and innovation, less energy was consumed while more goods and services wereproduced. In addition, the energy that was consumed relied relatively less on carbon intensive fuels and moreon renewables. As a result, the EU decoupled its economic growth from its GHG emissions, because these tech-nical developments make it possible to increase economic growth while emitting fewer emissions. The largestreduction took place in 2009 when emissions fell sharply by 324 million tonnes CO2-equivalent , or 7.2 %. Thisparticularly steep decline can be partly attributed to the effects of the economic crisis in general as emissionsdecreased across all source sectors.

General overviewThis statistical article is organised in the same order as the reporting on the main source sectors in the GHGemissions inventories . First an overall picture is given, followed by sections presenting the GHG emissions ofeach specific source sector together with the developments for the underlying drivers. The aim is to help thereader to understand which factors influence the development of GHG emissions.

The European statistical system (ESS) collects official statistics, some of which are used to estimate GHGemissions that are reported in GHG inventories. While national statistical institutes are usually not directlyresponsible for compiling GHG inventory data, they often support the compilation by providing auxiliary inputdata.

In the EU, GHG inventories of Member States are collected by the European Environment Agency (EEA)on behalf of the European Commission , more specifically the Directorate-General for Climate Action , in orderto produce the EU GHG inventory. Eurostat contributes to the validation of the GHG inventories by providingenergy statistics to the EEA. Eurostat also has a range of statistics that provides a solid basis for analysing the

1See the European Green Deal of the European Commission.

driving forces behind GHG emissions.

Total emissions, main breakdowns by source and general drivers

Figure 1: Greenhouse gas emissions, EU-27, 1990-2018 (index 1990 = 100) Source: EEA, repub-lished by Eurostat (env_air_gge)

The overall development of total GHG emissions is on the right path; in 2018 total GHG emissions equalled 3.9billion tonnes of CO2-equivalent compared with 4.9 billion tonnes in 1990, a decrease of 1.0 billion tonnes, or 21%. Figure 1 shows that the EU is on track to reduce its GHG emissions and has already surpassed its target ofa reduction by 20 % that was set for 2020 . However, the EU’s ambitious target for 2030, a reduction of GHGemissions by at least 40 % compared with 1990 levels , implies that this downward trend has to be maintainedand even reinforced.2That seems like a continuous decrease of GHG emissions should not be taken for granted.About every five years there are one or two years where total GHG emissions increase slightly compared withthe year before. Also in 2015, 2016 and 2017 GHG emissions increased somewhat compared to the year before.Even though the largest increase in 2015 was only 1.4 %, to reach the 2030 and 2050 targets, GHG emissionsneed to be strongly reduced.

2For more details and background see the Commission’s progress report on climate action: Communication COM(2019) 599final and the accompanying Commission Staff Working Document SWD/2019/ 396 final , and the EEA’s report on emissionstrends and projections .

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Figure 2: Greenhouse gas emissions by country, absolute change 1990-2018 (million tonnes)Source: EEA, republished by Eurostat (env_air_gge)

The difference across Member States in the absolute change in GHG emissions is shown in Figure 2, indicatingthe range of absolute changes. These absolute changes add up to the EU-27 total reduction of 1.0 billion tonnesof CO2-equivalent. Note that the ranking would change to a large extent if the relative changes or the changesin emissions per capita were compared. The rest of this Statistics Explained article will focus on the aggregateEU-27. More information for individual Member States can be retrieved from the Statistics Explained article ’Greenhouse gas emission statistics - emission inventories ’ and the GHG inventory dataset in Eurostat’s database.

The greenhouse gas emissions reported in Figure 1 are all due to human activities. Therefore, one may thinkthat more people would cause more GHG emissions. In addition, most of these human activities are economicactivities, for example to produce and consume goods and services. Hence, one may also expect that moreeconomic activity would produce more GHG emissions. The most general indicator for economic activity isgross domestic product (GDP) .

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Figure 3: Development of greenhouse gas emissions compared to GDP and population, EU-27, 1990-2018 (index 1995 = 100) Source: Eurostat (nama_10_gdp) (demo_gind) and EEA,republished by Eurostat (env_air_gge)

Figure 3 shows an clear upward trend for GDP and a less distinctive, but also upward trend for population.The average total population of the EU has slowly but steadily increased since 1990. This means that the GHGemissions per person in the EU are declining slightly more than the total GHG emissions, but with a comparablepattern.

GDP had been strongly increasing up to the start of the economic crisis in 2008. However, from 2009 on-wards, EU GDP was already slowly recovering and GDP surpassed the level of before the crisis in 2014. Thelarge drop in GHG emissions in 2009 is clearly related to the economic recession, but the overall decreasingtrend in GHG emissions can certainly not be attributed to a fall in economic activity. In fact, there is a cleardivergence, or decoupling, between economic activity and GHG emissions, resulting in a strong downward trendin the GHG emission intensity of economic activity, measured as GHG emissions per unit of GDP.

So while GHG emissions per person decreased by 21 % over the last 23 years (1995-2018), population in-creased by 5 % and GDP measured in volume terms increased by 48 % over this same period. This impliesthat there must have been changes in how these human activities were carried out, so that even with almostcontinuous economic growth and increasing population, greenhouse gas emissions are being reduced.

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Figure 4: Greenhouse gas emissions by IPCC source sector, EU-27, 2018 Source: EEA, repub-lished by Eurostat (env_air_gge)

To better understand the driving forces behind the reduction in GHG emissions, we need to look in more detailat the sources of these GHG emissions and the underlying human activities. Figure 4 shows the GHG emissionsbroken down by source sectors as defined by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) . Inter-national aviation is included in all graphs and statistics presenting totals and GHG emissions from transport inthis article, although it is officially reported as memo item in the GHG inventories.

Over three-quarters of the GHG emissions are due to fuel combustion. This includes fuel combustion to generateelectricity and heat, produce goods, construct buildings and infrastructure, and to move freight and persons.The combustion of fossil fuels is the largest contributor to GHG emissions from this source, but the combustionof other fuels, such as waste, also generates GHG emissions. Even without combustion, GHG are still emittedfrom fuels as so-called fugitive emissions; emissions that simply leak into the air, for example from pressurizedequipment or from storage tanks. The remaining share, just over one-fifth, is due to other activities that donot involve fuel combustion. It includes industrial processes and product uses, agricultural activities, and wastemanagement.

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Figure 5: Greenhouse gas emissions by IPCC source sector, EU-27, change from 1990 to2018 (million tonnes of CO2 equivalent and % change) Source: EEA, republished by Eurostat(env_air_gge)

Overall, GHG emissions have been declining, and this also holds for most source sectors (see Figure 5). How-ever, there is one exception; GHG emissions from transport, including international aviation, have increased by231 million tonnes, or 32 %, compared with 1990. The largest absolute decrease in emissions occurred in thefuel combustion by energy industries, which mainly produce electricity, heat and derived fuels. An impressivechange in both absolute and relative terms can be seen for fuel combustion in manufacturing industries andconstruction. Fugitive emissions from fuels shows a large relative change, but the share in the overall total ismuch less, as shown in Figure 4, and hence the absolute change is smaller.

In the remainder of this article we will look at the source sectors in more detail and try to unravel whatis behind these changes. In case of a fall in emissions, it may be that the activity itself takes place less often,or it may be that the GHG efficiency of the activity has improved. Improved GHG efficiency means that perstandard amount of the activity, for example producing one product or processing one kilogram of waste, fewerGHG are emitted than before.

Fuel combustionTotal GHG emissions from fuel combustion have decreased by 673 million tonnes, even with the increase ofGHG emissions in transport. Energy statistics are the most important source of information to identify thedriving forces behind these changes. Different types of fuels can be combusted in order to transform the energythat these fuels contain into a form of energy needed for our economy to function, for example energy to powerour machines or to heat our homes. Energy statistics provide information on the source of energy, the type ofenergy generated, and the final energy user.

Although total gross inland energy consumption of the EU-27 has remained rather stable over the last 25years, with the consumption in 2018 being nearly the same as in 1990, the energy profiles for the different fuelcombustion sectors show mixed pictures. Below the three fuel combustion sectors with decreasing GHG emis-sions are first discussed in more detail, before we turn to the increasing GHG emissions from the transport sector.

Energy industries

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Total GHG emissions of fuel combustion by the energy industries have fallen strongly from 1990 to 2018 by424 million tonnes of CO2-equivalent or 29 %. At the same time, the production of electricity and heat hasincreased by 19 %. The driving force of this decoupling is the change in fuel mix.

Figure 6: Greenhouse gas emissions due to fuel combustion, excluding transport, EU-27, 1990-2018 (million tonnes of CO2 equivalent) Source: EEA, republished by Eurostat (env_air_gge)

There has not been a steady change in the GHG emissions, as Figure 6 shows. In the first years after 1990,GHG emissions fell somewhat, which was likely due to the reforms and structural changes in eastern Europeancountries. The increase in the availability of natural gas also promoted the switch from coal-fired electricityplants to gas-fired plants. However, after 2000, the starting level was nearly attained again within four yearsdue to the economic boom. The large downturn only really started just ahead of the economic recession around2008, aided by the increase in the share of renewables in the energy mix, among other factors.

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Figure 7: Electricity and heat production by fuel, EU-27, 1990 and 2018 (million tonnes of oilequivalent) Source: Eurostat (nrg_bal_c)

Of the GHG emissions from fuel combustion by energy industries, 86 % is due to public electricity and heatproduction. Figure 7 compares, by type of fuel, the production of electricity and heat in 1990 and 2018. What ismost remarkable is the increase by 19 % of the total production of electricity and heat, from 258 to 308 milliontonnes of oil equivalent (MTOE). However, the energy sources that have contributed most to this increase inabsolute terms are renewable ones, with 69 MTOE, and gas, with 33 MTOE. Renewable energy sources areCO2emission neutral from a reporting perspective. Either they do not generate GHG emissions when generatingelectricity, for example wind power, or they only release GHG emissions that have been locked into a fuel that isrenewable in the short-term, for example wood and other biomass when grown sustainably.3Whereas electricityfrom wind or solar power is emission free at the point of generation, the combustion of natural gas still producesGHG emissions. However, it does not produce as many emissions as the combustion of solid and liquid fossil fuels.

Figure 7 also shows that the use of solid fuels and crude oil and petroleum products both decreased signif-icantly from 1990 to 2018. The use of solid fuels fell by 37 % from 104 MTOE to 66 MTOE. The use of crudeoil and petroleum products fell by 76 % from 27 MTOE to 7 MTOE. These are both fuel types with high emis-sion coefficients; in other words, fuel types that emit relatively large amounts of GHG when they are combusted.

Renewables can also replace fossil fuels indirectly by substituting electricity generated from fossil fuels withelectricity generated from renewable energy sources. Examples are electric cars, electric cooking and electricheating, which do not combust fuels on the spot. Hence, electricity from renewable sources has a large potentialto reduce GHG emissions from fuel combustion.

3For this reason, carbon dioxide emissions from burning biomass are only included as a memo item in the GHG inventories andthey are not included in the total GHG emissions reported.

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Figure 8: Gross electricity generation from renewable energy, EU-27, 1990-2018 (thousand tonnesof oil equivalent) Source: Eurostat (nrg_bal_c)

Figure 8 shows in more detail which types of renewables have contributed most to the increase in electricitygenerated from this source. From the first years of the new millennium, electricity generated from renewableenergy has almost tripled. Whereas hydro-electric power was almost completely responsible for all renewableelectricity generated in 1990 with 89 %, it generated just 32 % of the electricity in 2018. Wind power has clearlyseen the largest overall increase, while solar photovoltaic power is just catching up with the main renewableenergy sources over the last few years.

Manufacturing industries and construction

Fuel combustion in manufacturing industries and construction is the source sector with the second largestreduction in GHG emissions between 1990 and 2018 by 287 million tonnes of CO2-equivalent (Figure 5). Thefall in emissions is driven by an increase in energy efficiency, in other words producing more output with lessenergy, and a change in the fuel mix.

Figure 5 also shows that the reduction in GHG emissions by 39 % in this source sector is the largest rela-tive decrease of the fuel combustion source sectors. Figure 6 illustrates that this has been a steady path overthe years, with only a small interruption linked to the economic recession.

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Figure 9: Production volume of manufacturing and construction, EU-27, 1990-2018 (index 1995= 100) Source: Eurostat (sts_inpr_a) (sts_copr_a)

This is in contrast to the production volume by manufacturing and construction, which has increased overthese years as shown by Figure 9. Manufacturing output has increased most years, with only a large drop inthe year 2009 as a result of the recession. Construction output shows a different path, because the impact ofthe economic recession has led to a more prolonged reduction in construction output. The fall in output haslasted up to 2013 and has only slowly been increasing over the past few years. Still, just prior to the recession,construction output was around 10 % higher than in the nineties, without having a visible impact on the GHGemissions for these years (see Figure 6).

Figure 10: Industry final energy consumption by fuel, EU-27, 1990 and 2018 (million tonnes ofoil equivalent) Source: Eurostat (nrg_bal_c)

Although production output has increased in these industries, the GHG emissions have fallen and hence theGHG intensity of the activities has been reduced. The industry’s final energy consumption composition inFigure 10 shows the two underlying drivers for the reduction in GHG emissions: energy efficiency and a changein the fuel mix. Energy efficiency has increased, because more is produced with less energy; from 1990 to 2018the total final energy consumption by industry has fallen by 22 %. In addition, the fuel mix has changed, al-

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though not as prominently as for electricity and heat generation. Still, the consumption of solid fuels and totalpetroleum products has more than halved over the years, whereas the use of renewable energy has increased bynearly three-quarters. This implies that fewer greenhouse gases are emitted per unit of energy used.

Households, commerce, institutions and others

GHG emissions from fuel combustion by households, commerce, institutions and others contributed with afall of 193 million tonnes of CO2-equivalent to the reduction of GHG emissions, mainly due to a change in thefuel mix used.

Figure 11: Household final energy consumption by fuel, EU-27, 1990-2018 (million tonnes of oilequivalent) Source: Eurostat (nrg_bal_c)

The relative drop in GHG emissions of 26 % over 1990 to 2018 (Figure 5) follows from a relatively stable down-ward trend (Figure 6). Fuel combustion by private households caused 59 % of this source sector’s emissions,and decreased by a slightly larger percentage than the source sector total. Figure 11 shows the related changesin the energy consumption of households between 1990 and 2018, which even increased by 4 % over the sameperiod of time. In this case, the fuel mix change is the sole driver of the reduction of GHG emissions. The useof solid fuels fell by 70 % and the use of petroleum products halved. Households now use substantially morerenewables, of which the use doubled, and more natural gas and electrical energy.

Additional drivers for the decrease in GHG emissions of households are energy efficiency improvements inspace heating and the increase in energy efficiency of large electrical appliances.4

Transport-related emissions, including emissions from international aviation

The transport sector, including international aviation, is the only fuel combustion sector which shows an in-crease in GHG emissions when comparing 1990 with 2018, as shown in Figure 5. Between 1990 and 2018, totalGHG emissions increased by 32 %, or 231 million tonnes of CO2-equivalent. The volume of transport, measuredas the amount transported times the distance, increased until the economic recession. However, fuel efficiencyhas not improved substantially enough to offset the increase in transport volume.

4For more detailed information see EEA’s article ’ Progress on energy efficiency in Europe ’.

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Figure 12: Greenhouse gas emissions of transport, EU-27, 1990-2018 (million tonnes of CO2equivalent) Source: EEA, republished by Eurostat (env_air_gge)

Figure 12 presents the development over time of GHG emissions by the transport sector in more detail. Toprovide a complete picture, this figure also includes international navigation, which constitutes 12 % of the totalGHG emissions of transport as reported here. Although GHG emissions are higher in 2018 compared with 1990,there has been a decreasing trend from 2007 up to 2013. However, currently GHG emissions from transportare back to an increasing trend. Still, in 2018 emissions were not yet back at the maximum of 2007 when GHGemissions were more than a third higher than in 1990. Road transport is the largest contributor with close tothree quarters of the transport-related GHG emissions. International aviation has seen the largest growth overthe years by more than doubling its GHG emissions.

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Figure 13: Transport activity, EU-28, 1995-2017 (index 1995 = 100, based on tonne-kilometresand passenger-kilometres) Source: DG MOVE Statistical Pocketbook 2019

The development in GHG emissions correlates closely with overall transport activity, also referred to as trans-port performance, measured in tonne-kilometres and passenger-kilometres , see Figure 13. Note that thesestatistics are currently only available for the EU-28 and up to 2017. Still, the general trendwill not be very different for the EU-27. Passenger transport has increased during most of the yearsand only shows small setbacks, whereas freight transport clearly shows the impact of the economic recession.With less economic activity, less transport of goods is required. Transport performance statistics confirm thatroad transport is the most important mode of transport; 80 % of passenger transport performance and 50 % offreight transport performance is due to road transport when considering all types of transport modes (inland,air and maritime transport).

The energy consumption in transport has increased by 37 % from 1990 to 2018, in line with the increasein transport activity. Overall, transport has hardly improved its fuel efficiency. Almost all fuel used in trans-port consists of petroleum products and there has only been a marginal shift towards renewables, so there hasnot been a significant favorable shift in the fuel mix as seen for the other sectors.5

To conclude, energy mix changes seem to be the driving force behind the reduction in most fuel combustionsectors. In particular the manufacturing and construction industries have managed to substantially increasetheir energy efficiency. The following sections describe the GHG emissions by source sectors other than fuel use.

Industrial processes and product useThe source sector ’industrial processes and product use’ is responsible for 8.8 % of the total GHG emissionsincluding international aviation. Of the three non-energy sectors, it has the largest absolute reduction in GHGemissions in 2018 compared with 1990, equal to 105 million tonnes of CO2-equivalent. The sector represents awide range of production processes and economic activities across different industries.

5For an in-depth analysis of developments in the environmental performance of transport in the EU see the EEA reports Thefirst and last mile — the key to sustainable urban transport , Progress of EU transport sector towards its environment and climateobjectives , Electric vehicles from life cycle and circular economy perspectives , and Aviation and shipping — impacts on Europe’senvironment .

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Table 1: Greenhouse gas emissions from industrial processes and product use - selected sectors,EU-27, 1990 and 2018 (million tonnes of CO2 equivalent) Source: EEA, republished by Eurostat(env_air_gge)

To understand what drives the reduction in GHG emissions, it is useful to have a more detailed look at thesub-sectors with the largest shares. Table 1 shows a selected subset of the industrial processes and productuse sector. All production processes that traditionally had a large share in the total, namely mineral (cement),chemical and metal manufacturing, have managed to reduce their GHG emissions sizeably. The GHG emissionsfrom nitric acid production are even reduced to a small fraction of what they used to be.

A completely opposite trend is seen for the sub-sector ’product uses as substitutes for ozone depleting substances’which mainly relates to the emissions of fluorinated gases (F-gases). Within this sub-sector, refrigeration andair conditioning has by far the largest absolute increase with 77 million tonnes of CO2-equivalent. The demandfor refrigeration and air conditioning will most likely increase in the future, so the GHG intensity of this sectorwill need to be reduced.

Agricultural emissionsOut of the total GHG emissions in 2018, 10 % was emitted by the agricultural sector. Over the time span 1990to 2018, the sector reduced its emissions by 102 million tonnes of CO2-equivalent, which corresponds to -21 %compared with 1990. Figure 14 shows the GHG emissions in 1990 and 2018 for different agricultural activities.

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Figure 14: Greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture, EU-27, 1990 and 2018 (million tonnes ofCO2 equivalent) Source: EEA, republished by Eurostat (env_air_gge)

Emissions from enteric fermentation (methane), the fermentation of feed during the digestive processes of an-imals, were reduced by 50 million tonnes of CO2-equivalent or 23 % of the 1990 GHG emissions. The largestshare of the GHG emissions due to enteric fermentation, 85 %, are from the digestive system of cattle. Theseemissions fell by 22 % over 28 years, but the decrease in GHG emissions primarily took place during the firstdecade. The emission reduction for the years 2001 to 2019 is equal to only 5 %, whereas there was a 8 % dropin the head count of bovine animals6, which includes cattle, buffaloes and oxen (Figure 15). Data on bovineanimals for the EU-27 is not available for years before 2001, because data for a couple of small countries ismissing, but based on what is available, the livestock data shows a drop of around a quarter for the period 1990to now.

6GHG emissions from enteric fermentation of cattle and cattle manure management excludes buffaloes, which are reportedunder ’other livestock’.

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Figure 15: Livestock, EU-27, 2001-2019 (million head) Source: Eurostat (apro_mt_lspig)(apro_mt_lscatl)

Not all digestive systems produce as much methane as the digestive system of cattle. For example, the headcount of swine in the EU-27 is 185 % of the head count of bovine animals, as shown in Figure 15. Still, theenteric fermentation of swine is only 2 %, of total GHG emissions of enteric fermentation.

Emissions from manure management fell by 18 million tonnes of CO2-equivalent or 24 %. GHG emissionsfrom manure management are either estimated based on livestock statistics or manure management systemusage data. They include methane emissions (two-thirds on average) and nitrous oxide emissions (one-third onaverage).

Figure 16: Manure production, quantity of nitrogen, EU-27, 2004-2014 (million tonnes) Source:Eurostat (aei_pr_gnb)

Figure 16 shows the quantity of nitrogen from manure production over the ten years up to 2014. The quantity

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of nitrogen in manure production from swine has fallen more than the quantity of nitrogen in manure produc-tion from bovine animals over these ten years. More detailed data from the GHG inventories shows that thereduction in GHG emissions from manure management are in line with the changes in the quantity of nitrogenin manure production: GHG emissions from swine manure management fell by more than GHG emissions fromcattle manure management over these years. Cattle manure management and swine manure management con-tribute respectively by 44 % and 35 % to the total GHG emissions from manure management in 2018.

Emissions from wasteEmissions from waste have fallen mainly due to a reduction in GHG emissions from solid waste disposal follow-ing a reduction in the amount of landfilling ; the deposit of waste into or onto land. The organic fraction ofwaste landfilled creates methane emissions.

In 2018, the share of waste management in total GHG emissions was just 3 % (see Figure 4). GHG emis-sions from waste management have been reduced by 57 million tonnes of CO2-equivalent. Although in absoluteterms this sector has the smallest reduction in GHG emissions, it managed to reduce its emissions by 33 % overthe 28 years for which we have GHG inventories.

Figure 17: Greenhouse gas emissions of waste management, EU-27, 1990-2018 (million tonnes ofCO2 equivalent) Source: EEA, republished by Eurostat (env_air_gge)

Figure 17 shows that waste management emissions remained relatively stable for almost the first ten years.However, since the second half of the 1990s, GHG emissions started to fall, and have continued to do so in avery stable way. In absolute terms, the decrease was largest for solid waste disposal with 44 million tonnes or34 %. Waste water treatment reduced its GHG emissions by 43 %, but due to the smaller share in the total,this only amounts to 17 million tonnes.

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Figure 18: Municipal waste treatment, EU-27, 2000-2018 (million tonnes) Source: Eurostat(env_wasmun)

Figure 18 shows statistics from municipal waste treatment that give more background on the apparently steadyfall of GHG emissions from waste management.

The practice of disposing of waste by landfilling was reduced by more than half over 15 years. There aretwo main reasons for this reduction. First, the recycling and composting of solid waste is now close to threetimes its 1995 value. Given that 1) our economy is growing and needs materials to produce goods and service,2) material resources are not unlimited and 3) the use of primary materials needs to be reduced, recycling hasbecome more and more important. Second, total incineration with energy recovery has increased. This seemscounterfactual to the fact that GHG emissions from incineration have reduced. However, GHG emissions fromincineration with energy recovery are not recorded in the waste sector of the GHG inventories, but in the energysector. In addition, carbon dioxide emissions from burning biomass are only included as a memo item in theGHG inventories and are not included in the total value of GHG emissions reported. Figure 7 shows that wasteused as a fuel to produce electricity and heat has increased fourfold over 28 years. Overall, renewable andnon-renewable waste has been used to increase energy for gross inland consumption by 17 million tonnes of oilequivalent from 1990 to 2018, a four-fold increase.

The strong reduction in landfilling as a treatment of waste is a combined result of the Waste FrameworkDirective ( Directive 2008/98/EC ) and the Landfill Directive ( Council Directive 1999/31/EC ). The WasteFramework Directive sets out a waste hierarchy that serves as the priority order in waste prevention and man-agement, legislation and policy. Waste disposal is last on the list. The objective of the Landfill Directive is toprevent or reduce as far as possible the negative effects on the environment and risks to human health from thelandfilling of waste. According to a report by the EEA , the Landfill Directive has been effective in reducinglandfilling and increasing the use of alternative waste management options. Several legislative proposals havebeen adopted in 2015 and came into effect in 2018 to review waste policy as part of the Circular EconomyPackage . These Directives aim to further increase re-use and recycling and limit disposal such as landfilling.

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Land use, land use change and forestry is an overall sink of emissionsIn addition to the sources of GHG emissions represented in Figure 4 and Figure 5, GHG inventories also includea sector that is, overall, a sink of GHG emissions. This means that the total GHG emissions recorded forthis sector are negative, because these GHG emissions are removed from the atmosphere. This sector is calledland use, land use change and forestry, which is often abbreviated to LULUCF. Of these, forestry is the reasonLULUCF emissions are negative.

Depending on the context and purpose, emissions from LULUCF are either included in, or excluded from,reported total GHG emissions. Reporting obligations related to LULUCF differ under the United NationsFramework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol ; for industrialised countries, LULUCF iscovered by the Kyoto Protocol. Under the Kyoto Protocol, EU Member States have committed to compensateGHG emissions from land use by an equivalent absorption of CO2emissions through additional action in thesector up until 2020.

Until very recently, LULUCF was excluded from the EU climate and energy package. The Regulation onthe inclusion of greenhouse gas emissions and removals from land use, land use change and forestry (LULUCF)into the 2030 climate and energy framework was adopted on 14 May 2018. LULUCF is included on the basis of“no debit”, which means that each Member State has to ensure that emissions from land use are compensatedby a removal of CO2 from the atmosphere through action in the LULUCF sector. The Regulation introducesthis commitment for the first time in EU law for the period 2021-2030.7

Figure 19: Greenhouse gas emissions from LULUCF, EU-27, 1990-2018 (billion tonnes of CO2equivalent) Source: EEA, republished by Eurostat (env_air_gge)

Figure 19 shows, with a purple line, the total GHG emissions when the negative emissions from LULUCF areincluded in the total. On average this results in a decrease of total GHG emissions by 6.8 %, ranging from 5.2% in 1990 to 8.1 % in 2013. Of the different land use types, the only actual sink of GHG emissions in the EUGHG inventory is forest land. Hence, forests play an important role in the mitigation (in other words reduction)of GHG emissions. For all other land use types, such as cropland, grassland, wetlands and settlements, positiveGHG emissions are recorded. Harvested wood products are a sink of GHG emissions. Grassland and wetlandsleft undisturbed can also become a sink.

7For more information see the website with information on LULUCF in the EU of Directorate General Climate Action.

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The EU forest strategy 2014-2020 of the European Commission highlights that forests are not only impor-tant for economic and social purposes, but also for the environment, for example in the fight against climatechange. It calls on Member States to demonstrate how they intend to increase their forests’ mitigation potentialand how to enhance their forests’ adaptive capacities and resilience.

Figure 20: Forest area, EU-27, 1990-2015 with five year intervals (million hectares) Source:Eurostat (for_area)

Forestry statistics show indeed that the total forest area within the EU-27 has increased from 1990 to 2015, seeFigure 20. Other wooded land has slightly decreased over the years, but overall the trend is still positive.

GHG intensities of economic activitiesThe GHG emission intensity of the total economy, the amount of GHG emissions in grams of CO2-equivalentsper euro of value added in the EU-27, has decreased by 22.5 %, when comparing 2018 with 2008.

Estimating the emission intensities of economic activities requires emission data that is conceptually aligned tonational accounts data. GHG inventories are the primary reporting format for GHG emissions, but the inven-tory source sectors cannot be matched one-to-one with economic activities (industries) as recorded in nationalaccounts. The scope of each of the source sectors in the GHG inventories is defined in a way that best fits theunderlying technical processes that result in GHG emissions.

Within the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA) , air emissions are recorded in accounts thatapply the same accounting concepts, structures, rules and principles as the System of National Accounts.8Theseair emissions accounts are consistent with national accounts, including the break-down by economic activityaccording to the NACE Rev.2 classification. Air emissions accounts also enable the analysis of changes in eco-nomic structure and the effect on GHG emissions.

8See also the Statistics Explained article ’ Environmental accounts - establishing the links between the environment and theeconomy ’.

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Figure 21: Greenhouse gas emissions by economic activity according to the NACE classification,EU-27, 2018 Source: Eurostat (env_ac_ainah_r2)

The shares of GHG emissions by economic activity are presented in Figure 21. In the air emissions accounts,emissions are assigned to the economic activities for which the GHG are emitted. For example, emissions re-ported as transportation in the GHG inventories are partly assigned to households and other economic activitiesthat operate their own transport fleet. The Statistics Explained article ’ Greenhouse gas emission statistics -air emissions accounts ’ showcases the air emissions accounts in more detail.

By combining information from air emissions accounts and national accounts, GHG emission intensities ofeconomy activities can be calculated. Emission intensities express how many GHG emissions are produced perunit of output or value added of the economic activity.

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Table 2: CO2 intensity by economic activity, EU-27, 2008 and 2018 (grams per euro, chain linkedvolumes 2010 and index 2008 = 100) Source: Eurostat (env_ac_aeint_r2)

Table 2 shows the GHG emissions in grams of CO2-equivalents emitted for each euro of value added generatedby the different economic activities in more detail. Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply shows byfar the largest amount of GHG emitted per euro of value added. Ranking second in absolute terms is trans-portation and storage. Other economic activities with high GHG intensities are the primary and secondarysectors; agriculture, forestry and fishing; mining and quarrying; and manufacturing. Service sectors emit muchless GHG per euro of value added. In general, economic structural changes towards a bigger service sectorimplies fewer GHG emissions.

Table 2 also shows the change of these GHG intensities from 2008 to 2018. For four economic activities theGHG intensity has increased when comparing 2018 with 2008. These sectors are households as employers andproducers with an increase of 19.0 %, financial and insurance activities with an increase of 10.0 %, constructionwith an increase of 9.5 %, and mining and quarrying with an increase of 2.1 %. The increase for householdsis coupled with a small absolute increase of 1 gram per euro. Although the relative change for mining andquarrying is much smaller than for construction, the emission intensity for the former increased with 26 gramsper euro, while the latter increased by 9 grams per euro. For construction emission intensities increased after2009 up to 2013 and from then fluctuates a bit up and down at just over 100 grams per euro. The increase inemission intensities is likely an effect of the economic recession with value added falling more than the GHGemissions. Construction was particularly hit by the economic downturn. Most economic activities managed tohave lower GHG emission intensities by 2018 compared with 2008.

GHG footprint of consumption and investment by the EU-27The GHG footprint is a measure of how much GHG was emitted along the full production chain of a productthat ends up in the EU-27 as final consumption or investment, irrespective of the industry or country where theGHG emission occurred. These emissions are sometimes referred to as emissions ’embodied’ in EU-27 consump-tion, although they are not literally included in the final products, and these products are not only consumed,but may also be investment goods.

GHG footprints are estimated using environmental-economic modelling, which results in higher margins oferror due to various modelling assumptions. For example, the estimate for emissions embodied in imports isbased on the ’domestic-technology-assumption’; in other words it is assumed that the imported products areproduced with production technologies similar to those employed within the EU. Hence, GHG footprints are

Climate change - driving forces 22

less reliable than GHG inventories and air emissions accounts.

Still, GHG footprints offer a valuable additional perspective to GHG inventories and air emissions accounts.The latter record emissions on the production side, at the origin of the emissions. In contrast, GHG footprintsare estimated from the perspective of the final product and where it ends up, and are, therefore, also referredto as consumption-based accounts. GHG footprints are estimated by combining information from air emissionsaccounts with economic accounts in so-called input-output tables.

Table 3: Carbon footprint by product, EU-27, 2018 (million tonnes and percentage of total)Source: Eurostat (env_ac_io10)

Table 3 presents the products with the largest share in the total EU-27 GHG footprint. The total EU-27 GHGfootprint is 3.9 billion tonnes. Of the total GHG emissions due to EU-27 demand for products, 9.3 % of theemissions are caused by the final demand for electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning. The production ofthese products is very energy-intensive so it is not a surprise that it contributes most to the footprint. The sameapplies to ’constructions and construction works’. Construction itself requires energy, but cement and steel,both used in construction, also have very GHG-intensive production processes (see Table 1). More surprising isthe high rank of the final demand of food, beverages and tobacco products, which contribute 9.2 % to the totalfootprint.

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Figure 22: CO2 emissions — production and consumption perspective breakdown, EU-27, 2018(million tonnes) Source: Eurostat (env_ac_io10)

Finally, Figure 22 shows on the right-hand side the breakdown of the GHG footprint into direct emissionsby households, emissions in the EU-27 due to EU-27 final demand, and avoided emissions due to imports tomeet EU-27 final demand. By importing various goods and services from the rest of the world, the EU can bedeemed to have ’avoided’ 609 million tonnes of GHG emissions that would otherwise have been emitted on itsown territory.

On the left-hand side the production perspective is shown, which includes EU-27 emissions embodied in ex-ported products. Due to the difference in the emissions embodied in trade, the EU-27 emits more GHG than isneeded to produce the final demand of the EU-27 itself, the difference being 118 million tonnes.

Not shown in the figure is the estimate of a total of 218 million tonnes of avoided emissions due to imports thatare embodied in exports, as these are neither emitted in the EU-27, nor ’imported’ to meet EU-27 demand.They are an estimate of the emissions that merely pass through the EU-27.

More information on carbon footprints can be found in the Statistics Explained article ’ Greenhouse gas emis-sion statistics - carbon footprints ’.

Source data for tables and graphs• Climate change - driving forces 2020: figures and tables

Climate change - driving forces 24

Data sourcesGHG emission data from the GHG inventories is from Eurostat’s dataset Greenhouse gas emissions by sourcesector ( env_air_gge ). This dataset is a republication of the GHG inventories as published by the EuropeanEnvironment Agency (EEA). The EEA GHG inventory data is accessible through the EEA greenhouse gas dataviewer .

The Directorate-General for Climate Action of the European Commission has overall responsibility for theinventory of the EU and the reporting to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UN-FCCC) . The EEA is responsible for the preparation of the EU’s GHG inventory as well as for the implementationof the quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) procedures on the GHG inventories reported by the 28Member States and Iceland. The EEA is supported in its work by the European Topic Centre on ClimateChange Mitigation and Energy (ETC/CME) . Each Member State compiles its national inventory and submitsit to both the UNFCCC and to the EEA. Eurostat collects national energy statistics reported under the EUEnergy Statistics Regulation and is responsible for supplying the energy data for the IPCC reference approachfor CO2emissions from fossil fuel combustion. This is a key verification procedure of the energy data reportedin the EU GHG inventory. The Joint Research Centre is responsible for the QA/QC of the LULUCF andagriculture sectors in the EU’s GHG inventory.

The annual reporting rules on GHG emissions for the EU and its Member States are set in the EU moni-toring mechanism legislation: Regulation (EU) No 525/2013 on a mechanism for monitoring and reporting,Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 666/2013 establishing the inventory system, and Commission Im-plementing Regulation (EU) No 749/2014 defining the details of the submission process. These regulationswill in be repealed on 1 January 2021 by the Regulation (EU) 2018/1999 on the Governance of the EnergyUnion and Climate Action and new implementing acts. The GHG inventories are compiled in line with the2006 guidelines from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the monitoring mechanismis based on internationally agreed obligations under the UNFCCC.

Data on transport performance is from the Statistical pocketbook 2019 of the Directorate-General for Mo-bility and Transport, which includes data from Eurostat, from other sources and own estimates.

All other statistics are from Eurostat and accessible through Eurostat’s online database . Each dataset can beidentified by Eurostat’s online data code reported as the source below the figure or table.

Direct hyperlinks to each Eurostat dataset, for the selection of variables and lay-out of dimensions used forthis article are included in the attached Excel file (see below).

Definition and coverage

Greenhouse gas emissions include carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O) and severalfluorinated gases; sulphur hexafluoride (SF6), nitrogen trifluoride (NF3), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), and per-fluorocarbons (PFCs). Carbon dioxide represents more than four-fifths or 82 % of total GHG emissions in 2018,as shown in Figure 23. Both the share of carbon dioxide and the share of fluorinated gases have increased oneor two percentage points from 1990 to 2018, while the shares of methane and nitrous oxide have fallen one ortwo percentage points.

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Figure 23: Greenhouse gas emissions by gas type in CO2-equivalents, EU-27, 2018 Source: EEA,republished by Eurostat (env_air_gge)

To be able to compare and add the GHG emissions together, each GHG is expressed in CO2- equivalent basedon its global warming potential (GWP) relative to carbon dioxide. For example, methane absorbs 25 timesmore thermal infrared radiation than carbon dioxide and is therefore 25 times more potent as a greenhouse gasthan carbon dioxide. To calculate methane in CO2-equivalent, the amount of methane is multiplied by its GWPvalue of 25. Note that these GWPs are occasionally updated when new information on the energy absorptionor life time of the gases becomes available from scientific research. At this moment, the GWP values used tocompile GHG inventories in Europe are taken from the Technical Summary9of the Fourth Assessment ReportClimate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis of the IPCC. The EU has determined10that from 2023 GHGinventories will be reported based on the IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report .11.

All GHG totals in this article include indirect CO2emissions. All GHG totals exclude emissions and removalsdue to land use, land use change and forestry (LULUCF), except for Figure 19. Carbon dioxide emissions fromthe burning of biomass are recorded as memorandum item in GHG inventories and are also not included inthe various totals. In contrast, all GHG totals, and the figures on transport, include international aviation,although it is officially reported as memo item in the GHG inventories. All other memo items (transport andstorage of CO2, international navigation, and multilateral operations) are excluded.

Note: National and EU totals differ between the two approaches, as different boundaries apply. GHG in-ventories include international aviation and maritime transport (international bunker fuels) as memorandumitems, which means that they are excluded from national totals reported. However, they are included in airemissions accounts totals. Therefore total emissions reported in GHG inventory databases can differ signifi-cantly from the total reported in air emissions accounts for countries with a large international aircraft and/orshipping fleet.Source: dedicated section on climate change related statistics

Although GHG inventories and air emissions accounts both report GHG emissions, there are differences in9See Section TS.2.5, page 33-34 of the Technical Summary .

10See the Commission’s Delegated Regulation 2020/1044

11See the column ’GWP 100-year’ in Table 8.A.1 of Appendix 8.A of the report ’Climate Change 2013: The Physical ScienceBasis - Contribution of Working Group I to the IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report, page 731.

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National inventories for greenhouse gases and other airpollutants

Air emissions accounts

Emissions are assigned to the country where theemission takes place (territory principle).

Emissions are assigned to the country where thecompany causing the emission is based (resi-dence principle).

Emissions are assigned to technical processes (e.g.combustion in power plants, solvent use).

Emissions are classified by economic activity (us-ing the NACE classification as used in the system ofnational accounts).

Emissions from international shipping and aviation areassigned to the countries where the associated fuelis purchased regardless of where the purchasing com-pany is based.

Emissions from international shipping and aviationare assigned to the countries where the air-line/shipping company is based , regardless ofwhere the emission takes place.

definition and scope that result in differences in the reported values both at the total level and for individualsectors. Table 4 lists the main differences between GHG inventories and air emissions accounts. Data from thelatter have been used to compile GHG emissions by economic activity (Figure 21), GHG intensities (Table 2)and GHG footprints (Table 3 and Figure 22).

Significant differences between the totals for GHG inventories and air emissions accounts may occur in cer-tain countries where very large resident businesses engage in international water and air transport services. Forinstance, in Denmark, carbon dioxide emissions reported in the accounts are more than 2 times the amount ofemissions reported in inventories. This difference is due to a very large Danish shipping business, which operatesvessels worldwide, and hence bunkers most of its fuel and emits most of its emissions outside Denmark. Theseemissions abroad are not accounted for in the Danish GHG inventory, but they are included in the air emissionsaccounts. For the EU as a whole, the differences between totals from the GHG inventories and the air emissionsaccounts are much less pronounced.

For the agricultural data on livestock and manure production: ’swine’ excludes wild swine, and ’bovine an-imals’ includes cattle, buffaloes and oxen.

More detail on the definition and scope of the statistics reported on in this article can be found in the metadataaccompanying the respective datasets.

ContextClimate change as a result of human activities is a major threat to society due to the wide-ranging impacts onecosystems, the economy, human health and wellbeing. It is a problem of common concern to everyone, whichrequires a global response in order to limit the risks and impacts of climate change. The European Commissionaddresses the causes and consequences of climate change through European regulations and policies and bybeing an ambitious partner in the international activities in this field. For monitoring the progress in reducingGHG emissions, as well as for monitoring the drivers, the impact and the adaptation to climate change, highquality data is essential.

EU policy context

The EU’s progress on greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction is evaluated against targets set in its po-litical commitments. The EU succeeded in reducing its GHG emissions beyond the amounts agreed on in thefirst commitment period (2008-2012) of the Kyoto Protocol . According to projections, the target set for 2020in the 2020 climate & energy package , a 20 % reduction of GHG emissions compared with 1990, will also bemet. The EU is working towards cutting at least 40 % of its emissions in 2030 compared with 1990, as target setin the 2030 climate & energy framework and in accordance with the EU’s commitment to the Paris agreement.By 2050 the EU aims to be climate neutral.12

The two main instruments to achieve the EU GHG targets are the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS)and the Effort Sharing Decision (ESD) . The EU ETS is a market for trading carbon that works on the basis of

12See the Commission’s European Green Deal and the European Climate Law .

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a cap set on the amount of GHG emissions that can be emitted by installations covered by the system. Withinthe cap, companies receive or buy emission allowances. If a company produces less GHG emissions than it hasallowances for, it can sell these to a company that needs more. The market forces of supply, demand, and theresulting prices ensure that the lowest-cost solutions for reducing GHG emissions are implemented. The EffortSharing Decision covers emissions from most sectors not included in the EU ETS and establishes binding annualGHG emission targets for the EU Member States for these sectors.

For the commitment period from 2021-2030, two new Regulations have been adopted recently; the Regula-tion on binding annual GHG emission targets by Member States for 2021-2030 for the sectors not regulatedunder the EU ETS, such as transport, agriculture and waste, and the Regulation on the inclusion of green-house gas emissions and removals from land use, land use change and forestry in the 2030 climate and energyframework . The second Regulation includes binding commitments for each Member State to ensure that ac-counted emissions from land use are entirely compensated by an equivalent removal of CO2 from the atmospherethrough action in the sector. It also specifies the accounting rules to determine compliance. Also, the burning ofbiomass will count towards the 2030 commitments of each Member State. To address the GHG emissions fromtransport, the Commission has put together a strategy on low-emission mobility to increase the use of low andzero-emission vehicles and alternative low-emission fuels. zero-emission vehicles and alternative low-emissionfuels.

Countries in Europe will face severe challenges such as heat extremes, water scarcity, forest fires, sea levelrise, storm surges, floods and landslides. This is why, in 2013, the EU adopted the EU Adaptation Strategy toenhance preparedness and resilience in Europe. Complementing the activities of Member States, the strategysupports action by promoting greater coordination and information-sharing between Member States, and byensuring that adaptation considerations are addressed in all relevant EU policies. To reflect and to respondto the accelerating occurrence of extreme weather events and climate impacts, and the new political contextprovided by the Paris Agreement, an evaluation13of the EU Adaptation Strategy was published in November2018. The European Commission will continue working on making Europe more climate-resilient.

EU contribution to the global policy context

The EU is an ambitious contributor to the global efforts to fight climate change and reduce GHG emissions.The fight against climate change at global level is governed by the United Nations Framework Convention onClimate Change (UNFCCC). The Convention is an international environmental treaty that entered into forcein 1994 and has been ratified by 197 countries, including all EU Member States, as well as the EU itself. Theobjective of the UNFCCC as expressed in the Convention text is "stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrationsin the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system".

The Kyoto Protocol is the first international agreement linked to the UNFCCC to set binding emission re-duction targets for industrialised countries, among them the EU as a region. It includes two commitmentperiods: from 2008 to 2012, and from 2013 to 2020. The second commitment period was agreed upon in theDoha Amendment to the Protocol, which has not yet entered into force.

The latest key step in the process is the entry into force of the Paris Agreement on 4 November 2016. TheParis Agreement is the first-ever universal, legally binding global climate agreement. It was adopted duringthe 21st Conference of the Parties in December 2015 in Paris. The objectives of the Paris Agreement are tokeep the global temperature rise well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, pursuing efforts tolimit the increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius, and enhancing adaptive capacity, strengthening resilience and reducingvulnerabilities. The goals of the Paris Agreement should be met by working towards achieving the nationallydetermined contributions (NDCs) put forward by the Parties to the Agreement, and planning for and imple-menting adaptation action. The EU has been at the forefront of the international efforts to reach the ParisAgreement and has recently raised its ambition to becoming the first climate neutral continent by 2050 .

In parallel, the sustainable development goals (SDGs) agreed upon in 2015 include a climate action goal .The targets related to this goal do not address GHG emissions directly, but are important to combat climatechange and its impacts through capacity building, promoting climate change measures, and strengthening re-silience and adaptive capacity to withstand the impacts of climate change. In addition to the dedicated climateaction goal, several of the other SDGs are related to climate change, either directly or indirectly.

13The evaluation was published as a report on lessons learned and reflections on improvements for future action and anaccompanying staff working document .

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See also• Greenhouse gas emission statistics - emission inventories

• Electricity and heat statistics

• Energy statistics - an overview

• Freight transport statistics - modal split

• Agricultural production - livestock and meat

• Municipal waste statistics

• Greenhouse gas emission statistics - air emissions accounts

• Greenhouse gas emission statistics - carbon footprints

• Environmental accounts - establishing the links between the environment and the economy

Database• Air emissions

• Energy statistics

• Transport statistics

• Agriculture statistics

• Waste statistics

• Forestry statistics

• National accounts (including GDP)

• Population statistics

• Short-term business statistics

Publications• Sustainable development in the European Union — Monitoring report on progress towards the SDGs in

an EU context — 2020 edition

• SDGs & me - digital publication

• Environment, transport and environment indicators – 2019 edition

• Eurostat digital publication on energy

• Eurostat energy balance flows - Sankey interactive diagram

• Smarter, greener, more inclusive - indicators to support the Europe 2020 strategy – 2019 edition

• Using official statistics to calculate greenhouse gas emissions - A statistical guide

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External linksEuropean Commission - Directorate-General for Climate Action

• Directorate-General for Climate Action home page

• Climate strategies & targets

• EU climate action progress report 2019

• Overview of EU climate targets. See pages 2 to 5 of the technical information accompanying the EUclimate action progress report 2019.

• Emissions monitoring & reporting

• EU Emissions Trading System

• Effort Sharing Decision

European Commission - other

• Commission priority: A European Green Deal

• Agriculture and climate change

• Environment and climate change research by the Joint Research Centre

• Research & Innovation - Climate action

• International Cooperation and Development - Climate change

European Environment Agency

• European Environment Agency European Environment Agency - Climate change

• EEA greenhouse gas - data viewer

• Annual European Union greenhouse gas inventory 1990-2018 and inventory report 2020

• Approximated EU GHG inventory: proxy GHG estimates for 2018

• Trends and projections in Europe

• Trends and drivers in greenhouse gas emissions in the EU in 2016

• Transforming the EU power sector: avoiding a carbon lock-in

• The first and last mile — the key to sustainable urban transport

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)

• UNFCCC home page

• The Paris Agreement

• The big picture of the UN climate change regime

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

• IPCC home page

• 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories

Other

• CLIMATE-ADAPT - European Climate Adaptation Platform

Notes

Climate change - driving forces 30