Malta registered the highest drop among EU countries in carbon dioxide emissions in 2015, Eurostat said today.

Eurostat estimates that in 2015 carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions from fossil fuel combustion increased by 0.7% in the European Union (EU), compared with the previous year. CO₂ emissions are a major contributor to global warming and account for around 80% of all EU greenhouse gas emissions. They are influenced by factors such as climate conditions, economic growth, size of the population, transport and industrial activities. Various EU energy efficiency initiatives aim to reduce emissions of CO₂ and other greenhouse gases.

It should also be noted that imports and exports of energy products have an impact on CO₂ emissions in the country where fossil fuels are burned: for example if coal is imported this leads to an increase in emissions, while if electricity is imported, it has no direct effect on emissions in the importing country, as these would be reported in the exporting country where it is produced.

This information on early estimates of CO₂ emissions from energy use for 2015 is published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

According to Eurostat estimates, CO₂ emissions rose in 2015 in a majority of EU Member States, with the highest increases being recorded in Slovakia (+9.5%), Portugal (+8.6%) and Hungary (+6.7%), followed by Belgium (+4.7%) and Bulgaria (+4.6%). Decreases were registered in eight Member States, notably in Malta (-26.9%), Estonia (-16.0%), Denmark (-9.9%), Finland (-7.4%) and Greece (-5.0%).