What European country has the lowest greenhouse gas footprint?

Sweden boasts the lowest greenhouse gas footprint in the European Union, at 7.9 tonnes of CO2 equivalents (CO2e) per capita in 2022, new data from Eurostat has found.

Other EU countries to boast a low carbon footprint per capita include Portugal (8.0 tonnes), Romania (8.0 tonnes), Hungary (8.5 tonnes), Slovakia (9.2 tonnes), and France and Bulgaria (9.3 tonnes each).

At the other end of the scale, the highest greenhouse gas footprint per capita in the European Union in 2022 was recorded in Cyprus (16.6 tonnes), followed by Luxembourg (15.5 tonnes) and Ireland (14.2 tonnes).

Emissions across the EU

Overall, the greenhouse gas footprint of goods and services consumed in the EU in 2022 amounted to 10.7 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2e) per capita.

This footprint reflects emissions generated throughout the supply chains of products consumed within the EU, Eurostat noted.

Between 2010 and 2022, consumption-based emissions and production-based emissions decreased by 14% and 18%, respectively in the EU, with the pandemic causing a sharp drop in 2020.

In the two years following the pandemic, consumption emissions increased by 12%, and production emissions by 4%. However, despite this increase, emissions remain lower than pre-pandemic levels – 1% lower for consumption emissions and 6% lower for production-based emissions.

Greenhouse gas emissions per capita, in kg (2022)

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