Cyprus has EU’s fifth biggest rise in greenhouse emissions

Regarding increased greenhouse gas emissions due to economic activity by a member state, Cyprus had the fifth largest annual rise (14%) during the first quarter of 2022, double the EU average of 6%.

EU economy greenhouse gas emissions during Q1 2022 were still below the pre-COVID levels registered in Q1 2019 but have increased and are approaching pre-COVID levels compared to the last two years.

According to Eurostat, the documented increases were largely due to the effect of the economic rebound after the sharp decrease in activity due to the COVID-19 crisis.

In the first quarter of 2022, 1029 million tonnes of CO2-equivalents were emitted for all EU economies between January and March.

Emissions showed a 7% and 6% increase compared with the same quarter of 2020 and 2021, but still below pre-COVID levels registered in 2019 when the EU economy emitted 1035 million tonnes of CO2-eq.

Emissions in Q1 2022 increased in almost all EU states compared to the same quarter of 2021.

The Netherlands (a reduction of 9%) and Finland (-1%) were the only Member States that registered a decrease in emissions compared to Q1 2021.

Among the Member States with increased annual emissions, Bulgaria (+38%), Malta (+21%) and Ireland (+20%) were the biggest offenders.

Greenhouse gas emissions in Cyprus increased by 14% during Q1 compared to the same period in 2021.

Almost all EU states registered a reduction in emissions at the beginning of the pandemic.

In Cyprus, emissions had increased by almost 1% (0.8%) during Q1 2020 compared with the same period in 2019.

The economic sectors responsible for most emissions of greenhouse gases in the EU were households (24%), electricity, gas supply (21%) and manufacturing (20%), followed by agriculture (12%) and transportation and storage (10%).

Greenhouse gas emissions increased in all sectors since 2021, except for households which remained at the same level (245 million tonnes of CO2-eq.).

The highest increases were recorded in transportation and storage (+21%), mining (+15%) and construction (+11%).