Climate change – driving forces

At EU level, all major source sectors except transport have reduced their GHG emissions compared to 1990. Improved energy efficiency and changes in the fuel mix are important drivers of GHG reductions in the EU.

Emissions of greenhouse gases due to human activity cause anthropogenic climate change. The EU is an ambitious contributor to global efforts to combat climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions and has committed to be climate neutral by 2050.

This article analyzes the main drivers of long-term trends in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the European Union (EU), based on statistics available from Eurostat.

EU greenhouse gas emissions fell by 29.2 % between 1990 and 2022 (the last reference year for which data officially reported to the UNFCCC is available). The year 2020 saw a special downturn due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, greenhouse gas emissions will increase back to the level of the long-term trend, and continued on this trajectory in 2022. The main drivers of the long-term decline in total greenhouse gas emissions are improvements in energy efficiency and the energy mix. (More on ec.europa.eu)