Greenhouse gas emissions have declined, partially due to weather

During the summer, Eurostat published data on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for the first quarter of 2024. At first glance, the annual decreases in emissions (measured in tons) appear promising. Among the CEE countries, Czechia demonstrated the most significant improvement with a reduction of 5.4%. Hungary, Slovakia, and Croatia followed, with declines ranging between 4.4% and 4.2%, all below the EU average of 4%. On the other hand, emissions increased in Romania and Slovenia. It is important to note that these figures are largely influenced by temperatures, which reached historical highs in some countries during Q1. When considering GHG emissions per capita, Poland leads the region with 2.6 tons, followed by Czechia with 2.3 tons. The remaining CEE countries have values below the EU average of 1.9 tons. There is still a lot of room for improvement in EU, which should be supported by the funds from the RepowerEU facility.