Just how steeply have European transport emissions risen since the benchmark year of 1990?
New data has been compiled by the European Environmental Agency and now includes shipping and aviation figures that are usually left out of its reports in an attempt to clarify the contribution of the transport sector to the EU’s CO2 emissions.
The results of the analysis show that between 1990 and 2008, transport emissions increased by 34 per cent while emissions from other sectors actually dropped by 14 per cent. However, compared to 2007, transport emissions in 2008 actually fell by 1.6 per cent and those of other sectors by 2.2 per cent. Therefore the share in total emissions actually grew from 28 per cent to 29 per cent – up from 21 per cent in 1990.
Emissions from international aviation and shipping rose by 110 per cent and 56 per cent respectively; and while emissions from aviation were unchanged in 2008 those in shipping actually fell by 2.1 per cent compared to 2007 levels.
By sharp contrast, in 1990, aviation and shipping accounted for just 3.8 per cent and 18 per cent of total transport CO2 emissions – these levels stood at 7.0 per cent and 24 per cent respectively in 2008.
