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Eurostat: Bulgaria is first in the EU in reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the first quarter of 2024

by AI | 16.Aug 2024 | Europe in brief AI

A total of 12 countries in the EU managed to both limit harmful emissions and increase their gross domestic product

photo: Vladimir Shokov/BTA

BRUSSELS – Bulgaria is the country in the European Union that has reduced its greenhouse gas emissions the most in the first quarter of 2024, while at the same time increasing its gross domestic product.

According to Eurostat, Bulgaria reported the largest decline in greenhouse gas emissions for the period -15.2 percent, followed by Germany with -6.7 percent and Belgium with -6 percent. Greenhouse gas emissions in the EU in the first quarter of the year decreased by four percent year-on-year to 894 million tonnes of carbon equivalent, Eurostat reported. 

At the same time, the gross domestic product (GDP) of the EU increased by 0.3 percent compared to the same quarter of 2023, according to Eurostat data.

They show that the economic sectors that contributed most significantly to the decline in harmful emissions were electricity production and gas supply (-12.6 percent) and households (-4.4 percent).

Greenhouse gas emissions in the first quarter of the year compared to the same period in 2023 decreased in 20 EU member states. Eurostat also says that among the 20 member states that registered a reduction in greenhouse gases, eight also reported a decrease in GDP – Germany, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Austria, and Finland, while the other 12 – Bulgaria, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, France, Italy, Hungary, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Sweden, and Croatia managed to limit harmful emissions while also increasing their gross domestic product.

Both harmful emissions and GDP increased in Malta, Lithuania, Latvia, Greece, Cyprus, Romania, and Slovenia, according to Eurostat.

For comparison, in the third quarter of 2023, the greenhouse gas emissions produced by the economies of the European Union countries amounted to 787 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, representing a decrease of 7.1 percent.

According to Eurostat data, in 2023 Bulgaria reduced the greenhouse gas emissions released into the atmosphere by almost one-fifth (-19.6 percent), ranking the country in second place for the largest decrease after Estonia (-27 percent), according to Eurostat data. (August 16)