First report on EU contribution to the Global Budgets for CO2, CH4, and N2O updated annually

The EU28 emitted 3.6 Gt of fossil CO2 per year in the period 2009-2018 and thus contributed 10% towards global fossil CO2 emissions. The average per-capita emissions of CO2 of the EU28 (6.7 t CO2 per capita per year) lies around 40% above the global average. The EU is a net importer of fossil CO2 emissions embodied in imported goods and services. Total consumption based emissions in the EU28 were 4.4 Gt CO2 per year in this period, 21% above territorial emissions alone. The EU28’s share of cumulative CO2 emissions since 1850 was 22% in 2018, around half of its share in 1960. For the most recent period for which regional estimates are available (2003-2012), European anthropogenic emissions of CH4 amounted to 28 Tg CH4 per
year in the period 2003-2012 and represented 5% of global anthropogenic CH4 emissions.
In simple terms, the EU28 contributes significantly to the global emissions of anthropogenic CO2 and CH4. Emissions of CO2 from the EU28 have been falling since the 1960s. The EU28 contributions to annual emissions and cumulative emissions have also fallen since the 1960s, in part due to reduced EU28 emissions and in part due to emissions growth in other nations. Nonetheless, the EU28 exports a significant fraction of its CO2 emissions to other nations and its per-capita emissions remain above the global average.