Ireland had highest increase in greenhouse gases in EU

Ireland had the highest increase in greenhouse gas emissions at +17%, followed by Estonia and Malta, both at +8%.  Picture: John Giles/PA

Ireland had the highest increase in greenhouse gas pollution across the EU in the third quarter of last year compared to the same period the year before.

Emissions increased in 16 of the 27 EU member states in the third quarter of 2022 compared with the same quarter of 2021 as countries recovered from the pandemic, new data released by Eurostat reveals.

Ireland had the highest increase in greenhouse gas emissions at +17%. Ireland also had the highest GDP growth rate at over 10% in that period.

Ireland’s spike in greenhouse gas pollution was followed by Estonia and Malta (both +8%). 

Overall in the EU, GDP grew slightly more than greenhouse gas emissions in the third quarter of 2022 compared with the same quarter in 2021 (+2% for greenhouse gas emissions, +3% for GDP).

Most EU countries saw a growth in both GDP and emissions, but some countries managed to decrease emissions while GDP grew.

The largest decreases in emissions were recorded in Lithuania (-6%), Slovakia, and the Netherlands (both -5%). 

The economic sectors responsible for the most greenhouse gas emissions were ‘manufacturing’ (23%), ‘electricity, gas supply’ (21%), ‘households’ and ‘agriculture’ (both 14%), followed by ‘transportation and storage’ (13%), in the third quarter of 2022.

EU economy greenhouse gas emissions totalled 854m tonnes of CO2-equivalents (CO2-eq) in July, August, and September 2022 — a 2% increase compared with the same quarter of 2021. This increase reflects the economic rebound leading to GDP growth after the sharp decrease in activity due to the pandemic. But, compared with the pre-pandemic third quarter of 2019, EU economy greenhouse gas emissions decreased by 4% (from 889 to 854m tonnes of CO2-eq).

Ireland’s appalling emissions results in this latest Eurostat report did not shock leading climate academic Paul Deane, senior research fellow at the MaREI Centre for Marine and Renewable Energy and the Environmental Research Institute (ERI) at University College Cork.

“It’s not surprising,” said Mr Deane. “We’ve known for the last number of years that greenhouse gas emissions are going in the wrong direction. We need to be reducing emissions but, unfortunately, they’re increasing.

We haven’t really got out of the starting blocks at all yet in terms of emissions reduction in Ireland.

"On an individual basis, we’re one of the largest polluters of greenhouse gases in Europe.

“Our research in UCC shows that if everyone in the world were to live like an Irish citizen, the planet would already be about three degrees warmer.

“Ireland is one of the most fossil fuel-reliant countries in Europe. Just under 90% of all the energy that we use in Ireland comes from fossil fuels, most of it is imported. That has a terrible environmental consequence in terms of pollution but also an economic price tag. We’re spending about €1m every hour importing those fossil fuels into Ireland.

“We also have a very large agricultural sector in Ireland. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but the emissions associated with it are very challenging. And most of the agricultural produce, about 80% of it, is exported."

'We know what to do'

Mr Deane said that Ireland knows what to do to combat the problem — electrification of transport, increasing walking and cycling, generating more electricity from solar and wind, making agriculture more sustainable, environmentally and economically.

Progress is happening; last year, Ireland generated just under 40% of electricity from renewables. But we need to move faster and with greater agility, he said.

“We’re not hostage to confusion. We know what we have to do. We know we have the technologies and the ideas, we just need to implement these things at a scale that’s impactful and that’s aligned with reducing our emissions as quickly as possible.”