6. Carbon Dioxide CO2

6. CARBON DIOXIDE - CO₂

6.1 CO₂-emissions by countries

The 1990 annual total CO₂-emissions for EUROPE were estimated to be 4 764 million tonnes. These emissions broken down by EU-12, EFTA-5 and PHARE-10 countries are shown in figure 6.1. The largest contributor were the EU-12 countries with 64%, second largest the PHARE-10 countries with 22%; EFTA-5 countries with 8% and Germany (former East) and Malta contributed 6%.

Figure 6.1: Contribution in % to the EUROPEAN total CO₂-emissions

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Figure 6.2 shows the relative contribution of individual countries to the total of 4 765 million tonnes. In 1990 the largest contributing countries were Germany (former West; 15%), the United Kingdom (12%), Italy (10%) and France (10%); the smallest contributing countries were Malta (0.05%), Luxembourg (0.2%) and Slovenia (0.3%). These differences are due to different size of population and different per capita emissions (see also paragraph 6.3).

Figure 6.2: Contribution in % of each country to the EUROPEAN total CO₂-emissions

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6.2 CO₂-emissions per group

Eighty-five percent of the CO₂-emissions for EUROPE resulted from the groups 1 (public power, cogeneration and district heating), group 2 (commercial, institutional and residential combustion), group 3 (industrial combustion) and group 7 (road transport). Group 1 contributed the largest share with 28% to the total, group 3, group 2 and group 7 (road transport) were the groups with the next largest contributions of 24%, 18% and 15%. The remaining 16% of the total emissions can be attributed almost exclusively to emissions of the groups 4 (production processes), 5 (extraction and distribution of fossil fuels), 8 (other mobile sources and machinery), 9 (waste treatment and disposal) and 11 (nature).

The split of the CO₂-emissions into groups for EU-12 and PHARE-10 countries is quite similar compared to the split for EUROPE with the exception of the relative large contribution of group 1 (public power, cogeneration and district heating plants) with 38% and a smaller contribution of the group 7 (road transport) with 6% for the PHARE-10 countries. For the EFTA-5 countries group 11 (nature) showed a larger contribution with 25% and groups 1, 2 and 3 with 10%, 14% and 17% a smaller contribution compared to the split for EUROPE.

The differences of contributions of individual source groups to the total emissions are larger between countries than these groups (see also table 6.1). The contribution of group 1 ranges from 65% (Estonia) to 1% (Norway, Switzerland), of group 2 from 39% (Switzerland) to 2% (Greece), of group 3 from 58% (Luxembourg) to 2% (Greece) and of group 7 (road transport) from 26% (Austria) to 2% (Romania).

However it is evident from these differences in the relative contribution of sourcegroups to a countries total emissions that strategies for reduction of CO₂-emissions need individual solutions as well as common elements.

Figure 6.3: Contribution in % of source groups to the EUROPEAN CO₂-emissons

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6.3 CO₂-emissions per capita

For EUROPE the average CO₂-emissions per capita were 9 216 kg/capita. Compared to this number the per capita CO₂-emissions were 5% larger for the PHARE-10 countries with 9 660 kg/capita, 5% smaller for the EU-12 countries with 8 788 kg/capita and 7% smaller for the EFTA-5 countries with 8 601 kg /capita. This comparison is also shown in figure 6.4 and table 9.

Figure 6.4: CO₂-emissions per capita for EUROPE

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Again the differences are much larger if individual countries are compared: the largest CO₂-emissions per capita were estimated for Luxembourg (29 546 kg/capita) and the next largest ones for Estonia (18 891 kg/capita) and for Germany (former East; 18 244 kg/capita); the smallest per capita emissions for CO₂ were calculated for Portugal (4 587 kg/capita), Hungary (5 663 kg/capita) and France (6 641 kg/capita). Figure 6.5 shows the countries ranked according their per capita emissions. The already mentioned special report for CO₂ will analyse these large differences in the per capita emissions for CO₂; the smallest per capita emissions being a factor of 6 smaller compared to the largest number.

Figure 6.5: CO₂-emissions per capita for individual countries

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6.4 CO₂-emissions per km²

For EUROPE the average CO₂-emissions per km² were estimated as 1 007 406 kg/km². Compared to this number the per km² CO₂-emissions were 34% larger for the EU-12 countries with 1 350 928 kg/km², 3% smaller for the PHARE-10 countries with 975 743 kg/km² and 71% smaller for the EFTA-5 countries with 294 842 kg/km². This comparison is also shown in figure 6.6 and table 10.

Figure 6.6: CO₂-emissions per km2 for EUROPE

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Again the differences are much larger if individual countries are compared; the largest CO₂-emissions per km² were for Malta (6 987 342 kg/km²) and the next largest ones for Luxembourg (4 348 028 kg/km²), Belgium, Flemish region (3 901 938 kg/km²) and the Netherlands (3 840 638 kg/km²). The smallest emissions per km² for CO₂ were for Norway (106 215 kg/km²), Finland (168 737 kg/km²) and Latvia (283 800 kg/km²). Figure 6.7 shows the countries ranked according their CO₂-emission per km². The differences in the emissions per km² between countries are much larger compared to the per capita emissions. The smallest number being 66 times smaller than the largest number.

Figure 6.7: CO₂-emissions per km2 for individual countries

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Table 6.1: Carbon dioxide emissions per country and group