IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/appene/v184y2016icp759-768.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Greenhouse gas emission accounting for EU member states from 1991 to 2012

Author

Listed:
  • Su, Meirong
  • Pauleit, Stephan
  • Yin, Xuemei
  • Zheng, Ying
  • Chen, Shaoqing
  • Xu, Chao

Abstract

Collectively, the EU is among the world’s largest greenhouse gas (GHG) emitters, though remarkable decreases in GHG emissions have been observed in recent years. In this work the GHG emissions for the 28 EU member states between 1991 and 2012 are accounted for and compared according to the inventory method of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The structure of GHG emissions at a national level, their distribution between countries, and trends across the period are then analyzed. National emission sources and sinks are decomposed for each country to elucidate the contribution of each sector (energy, industrial processes, solvents and other product use, agriculture, land use/land-use change and forestry, and waste) to the national totals. Germany was the largest emitter, with net emissions totaling 939Tg CO2 equivalent in 2012, 60% more than the UK and 89% more than France, the second and third biggest emitters, respectively. The energy sector and agriculture were found to be the largest sources of emissions in most countries. Four quadrants were established to compare countries’ performance in emission intensity, carbon removal rate, and net reduction rate of GHG emissions. Slovenia, Portugal, Sweden, and Finland were located in Quadrant II as they displayed relatively low emission intensities and high carbon removal rates. Conversely, Hungary, Greece, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, and Poland were located in Quadrant IV because of their relatively high emission intensities and low carbon removal rates. Some suggestions for integrating the annual results and the trends both within and among countries into national and regional emissions reduction strategies are also included. The unified accounting framework and analysis of the structure of GHG emissions may also be useful for other countries and regions.

Suggested Citation

  • Su, Meirong & Pauleit, Stephan & Yin, Xuemei & Zheng, Ying & Chen, Shaoqing & Xu, Chao, 2016. "Greenhouse gas emission accounting for EU member states from 1991 to 2012," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 184(C), pages 759-768.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:184:y:2016:i:c:p:759-768
    DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2016.02.074
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306261916302112
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.apenergy.2016.02.074?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sevigné Itoiz, E. & Gasol, C.M & Farreny, R. & Rieradevall, J. & Gabarrell, X., 2013. "CO2ZW: Carbon footprint tool for municipal solid waste management for policy options in Europe. Inventory of Mediterranean countries," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 623-632.
    2. Röder, Norbert & Henseler, Martin & Liebersbach, Horst & Kreins, Peter & Osterburg, Bernhard, 2015. "Evaluation of land use based greenhouse gas abatement measures in Germany," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 193-202.
    3. Meleo, Linda & Nava, Consuelo R. & Pozzi, Cesare, 2016. "Aviation and the costs of the European Emission Trading Scheme: The case of Italy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 138-147.
    4. Konstantinaviciute, Inga & Bobinaite, Viktorija, 2015. "Comparative analysis of carbon dioxide emission factors for energy industries in European Union countries," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 603-612.
    5. Buratti, C. & Barbanera, M. & Fantozzi, F., 2013. "Assessment of GHG emissions of biomethane from energy cereal crops in Umbria, Italy," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 128-136.
    6. Weinberg, Jana & Kaltschmitt, Martin, 2013. "Greenhouse gas emissions from first generation ethanol derived from wheat and sugar beet in Germany – Analysis and comparison of advanced by-product utilization pathways," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 131-139.
    7. Kaivo-oja, J. & Luukkanen, J. & Panula-Ontto, J. & Vehmas, J. & Chen, Y. & Mikkonen, S. & Auffermann, B., 2014. "Are structural change and modernisation leading to convergence in the CO2 economy? Decomposition analysis of China, EU and USA," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 115-125.
    8. Saikku, Laura & Rautiainen, Aapo & Kauppi, Pekka E., 2008. "The sustainability challenge of meeting carbon dioxide targets in Europe by 2020," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 730-742, February.
    9. Bielaczyc, Piotr & Woodburn, Joseph & Szczotka, Andrzej, 2014. "An assessment of regulated emissions and CO2 emissions from a European light-duty CNG-fueled vehicle in the context of Euro 6 emissions regulations," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 134-141.
    10. Antanasijević, Davor & Pocajt, Viktor & Ristić, Mirjana & Perić-Grujić, Aleksandra, 2015. "Modeling of energy consumption and related GHG (greenhouse gas) intensity and emissions in Europe using general regression neural networks," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 816-824.
    11. Malça, João & Freire, Fausto, 2011. "Life-cycle studies of biodiesel in Europe: A review addressing the variability of results and modeling issues," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 15(1), pages 338-351, January.
    12. Brizga, Janis & Feng, Kuishuang & Hubacek, Klaus, 2014. "Drivers of greenhouse gas emissions in the Baltic States: A structural decomposition analysis," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 22-28.
    13. Meleo, Linda, 2014. "On the determinants of industrial competitiveness: The European Union emission trading scheme and the Italian paper industry," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 535-546.
    14. Liobikienė, Genovaitė & Butkus, Mindaugas & Bernatonienė, Jurga, 2016. "Drivers of greenhouse gas emissions in the Baltic states: decomposition analysis related to the implementation of Europe 2020 strategy," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 309-317.
    15. Bachmann, Till M. & van der Kamp, Jonathan, 2014. "Environmental cost-benefit analysis and the EU (European Union) Industrial Emissions Directive: Exploring the societal efficiency of a DeNOx retrofit at a coal-fired power plant," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 125-139.
    16. Zhang, Yue-Jun & Da, Ya-Bin, 2015. "The decomposition of energy-related carbon emission and its decoupling with economic growth in China," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 1255-1266.
    17. Chitnis, Mona & Druckman, Angela & Hunt, Lester C. & Jackson, Tim & Milne, Scott, 2012. "Forecasting scenarios for UK household expenditure and associated GHG emissions: Outlook to 2030," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 129-141.
    18. Robaina-Alves, Margarita & Moutinho, Victor, 2014. "Decomposition of energy-related GHG emissions in agriculture over 1995–2008 for European countries," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 949-957.
    19. Marrero, Gustavo A., 2010. "Greenhouse gases emissions, growth and the energy mix in Europe," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(6), pages 1356-1363, November.
    20. Bhattacharyya, Subhes C. & Matsumura, Wataru, 2010. "Changes in the GHG emission intensity in EU-15: Lessons from a decomposition analysis," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(8), pages 3315-3322.
    21. Felten, Daniel & Fröba, Norbert & Fries, Jérôme & Emmerling, Christoph, 2013. "Energy balances and greenhouse gas-mitigation potentials of bioenergy cropping systems (Miscanthus, rapeseed, and maize) based on farming conditions in Western Germany," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 160-174.
    22. da Graça Carvalho, Maria, 2012. "EU energy and climate change strategy," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 19-22.
    23. Štreimikienė, Dalia & Balezentis, Tomas, 2016. "Kaya identity for analysis of the main drivers of GHG emissions and feasibility to implement EU “20–20–20” targets in the Baltic States," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 1108-1113.
    24. Bölük, Gülden & Mert, Mehmet, 2014. "Fossil & renewable energy consumption, GHGs (greenhouse gases) and economic growth: Evidence from a panel of EU (European Union) countries," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 439-446.
    25. Arteconi, A. & Brandoni, C. & Evangelista, D. & Polonara, F., 2010. "Life-cycle greenhouse gas analysis of LNG as a heavy vehicle fuel in Europe," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 87(6), pages 2005-2013, June.
    26. Delarue, Erik & Lamberts, Hans & D’haeseleer, William, 2007. "Simulating greenhouse gas (GHG) allowance cost and GHG emission reduction in Western Europe," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 32(8), pages 1299-1309.
    27. Syri, Sanna & Amann, Markus & Capros, Pantelis & Mantzos, Leonidas & Cofala, Janusz & Klimont, Zbigniew, 2001. "Low-CO2 energy pathways and regional air pollution in Europe," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 29(11), pages 871-884, September.
    28. Bayer, Peter & Saner, Dominik & Bolay, Stephan & Rybach, Ladislaus & Blum, Philipp, 2012. "Greenhouse gas emission savings of ground source heat pump systems in Europe: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 16(2), pages 1256-1267.
    29. Rogers, J.G. & Cooper, S.J.G. & O’Grady, Á. & McManus, M.C. & Howard, H.R. & Hammond, G.P., 2015. "The 20% house – An integrated assessment of options for reducing net carbon emissions from existing UK houses," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 108-120.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Xu, Chao & Haase, Dagmar & Su, Meirong & Yang, Zhifeng, 2019. "The impact of urban compactness on energy-related greenhouse gas emissions across EU member states: Population density vs physical compactness," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 254(C).
    2. Mariano González-Sánchez & Juan Luis Martín-Ortega, 2020. "Greenhouse Gas Emissions Growth in Europe: A Comparative Analysis of Determinants," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-22, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Liobikienė, Genovaitė & Butkus, Mindaugas, 2017. "The European Union possibilities to achieve targets of Europe 2020 and Paris agreement climate policy," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 298-309.
    2. Xiao, Lin & Guan, Yuru & Guo, Yaqin & Xue, Rui & Li, Jiashuo & Shan, Yuli, 2022. "Emission accounting and drivers in 2004 EU accession countries," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 314(C).
    3. Weihua Su & Yuying Wang & Dalia Streimikiene & Tomas Balezentis & Chonghui Zhang, 2020. "Carbon dioxide emission decomposition along the gradient of economic development: The case of energy sustainability in the G7 and Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(4), pages 657-669, July.
    4. Genovaitė Liobikienė & Mindaugas Butkus & Kristina Matuzevičiūtė, 2019. "The Contribution of Energy Taxes to Climate Change Policy in the European Union (EU)," Resources, MDPI, vol. 8(2), pages 1-23, April.
    5. Fei Wang & Changjian Wang & Jing Chen & Zeng Li & Ling Li, 2020. "Examining the determinants of energy-related carbon emissions in Central Asia: country-level LMDI and EKC analysis during different phases," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 22(8), pages 7743-7769, December.
    6. Lima, Fátima & Nunes, Manuel Lopes & Cunha, Jorge & Lucena, André F.P., 2016. "A cross-country assessment of energy-related CO2 emissions: An extended Kaya Index Decomposition Approach," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 115(P2), pages 1361-1374.
    7. Simionescu, Mihaela, 2021. "The nexus between economic development and pollution in the European Union new member states. The role of renewable energy consumption," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 1767-1780.
    8. Yuliia Matiiuk & Mykolas Simas Poškus & Genovaitė Liobikienė, 2020. "The Implementation of Climate Change Policy in Post-Soviet Countries Achieving Long-Term Targets," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-24, June.
    9. Roinioti, Argiro & Koroneos, Christopher, 2017. "The decomposition of CO2 emissions from energy use in Greece before and during the economic crisis and their decoupling from economic growth," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 448-459.
    10. Li, Tianxiang & Baležentis, Tomas & Makutėnienė, Daiva & Streimikiene, Dalia & Kriščiukaitienė, Irena, 2016. "Energy-related CO2 emission in European Union agriculture: Driving forces and possibilities for reduction," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 180(C), pages 682-694.
    11. Giedrė Lapinskienė & Kęstutis Peleckis & Neringa Slavinskaitė, 2017. "Energy consumption, economic growth and greenhouse gas emissions in the European Union countries," Journal of Business Economics and Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(6), pages 1082-1097, November.
    12. Fang, Sheng & Lu, Xinsheng & Li, Jianfeng & Qu, Ling, 2018. "Multifractal detrended cross-correlation analysis of carbon emission allowance and stock returns," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 509(C), pages 551-566.
    13. Zhen, Wei & Qin, Quande & Wei, Yi-Ming, 2017. "Spatio-temporal patterns of energy consumption-related GHG emissions in China's crop production systems," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 274-284.
    14. Wang, Zhibao & Zhao, Nana & Wei, Wendong & Zhang, Qianwen, 2021. "A differentiated energy Kuznets curve: Evidence from mainland China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 214(C).
    15. Liobikienė, Genovaitė & Butkus, Mindaugas, 2017. "Environmental Kuznets Curve of greenhouse gas emissions including technological progress and substitution effects," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 237-248.
    16. Xiao-Ying Dong & Qiying Ran & Yu Hao, 2019. "On the nonlinear relationship between energy consumption and economic development in China: new evidence from panel data threshold estimations," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 53(4), pages 1837-1857, July.
    17. Lin, Weiming & Chen, Jianling & Zheng, Yi & Dai, Yongwu, 2019. "Effects of the EU Emission Trading Scheme on the international competitiveness of pulp-and-paper industry," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    18. Antonia Díaz & Gustavo A. Marrero & Luis Puch & Jesús Rodríguez-López, 2018. "A Note on Growth, Energy Intensity and the Energy Mix: A Dynamic Panel Data Analysis," Working Papers 18.08, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Department of Economics.
    19. Sułkowski, Łukasz & Dobrowolski, Zbysław, 2021. "The role of supreme audit institutions in energy accountability in EU countries," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    20. Nava, Consuelo R. & Meleo, Linda & Cassetta, Ernesto & Morelli, Giovanna, 2018. "The impact of the EU-ETS on the aviation sector: Competitive effects of abatement efforts by airlines," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 20-34.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:184:y:2016:i:c:p:759-768. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/405891/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.