Emissions increased in 2010, but less than they would have done without an increase in the use of renewable energy.

European greenhouse gas emissions increased by 2.4% in 2010, or 111 million tonnes of CO2-equivalent, due to a cold winter and the economic recovery following the 2009 recession in many countries.

About 56% of the EU increase in GHG emissions was accounted for by Germany, the UK and Poland, with a growth in hydrofluorocarbon emissions becoming a worrying factor.

The figures were supplied by the European Environment Agency today and cover all greenhouse gas emissions of the 27 member states of the European Union. They corroborate the figures released last week from the latest figures from the International Energy Agency, revealing that global greenhouse gas emissions reached a record high of 31.6 gigatonnes last year, an increase of 1Gt, or 3.2%, on 2010.

EEA executive director Jacqueline McGlade said that “the increase could have been even higher without the fast expansion of renewable energy generation in the EU.” The report itself also attributes the reduced increase to “the improved carbon intensity of fossil fuels, underpinned by strong gas consumption”.

Nevertheless, final energy demand increased by 3.7% in 2010, outpacing the increase in economic output (2.0%).

Source: link2portal