Brussels – Greenhouse gas emissions from the European Union’s economy rose again in the first quarter of 2026, but at a slower pace than at the end of last year. According to figures published today by Eurostat, the European Union’s statistical office, between January and March, 837 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent were emitted, up 0.3 per cent from the 835 million tonnes in the fourth quarter of 2025. At the same time, the EU’s gross domestic product remained stable.
The figure marks a slowdown compared with the last three months of 2025, when emissions had risen by 0.9 per cent on a quarter-on-quarter basis. At that time, with GDP growing 0.2 per cent, the most significant increases came from the supply of electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning (+7.2 per cent), transport and storage (+1.3 per cent) and mining and quarrying (+0.9 per cent).
In the first quarter of 2026, the supply of electricity, gas, steam, and air conditioning sector continued to have the highest emissions growth, at 4.8 per cent. The overall figure was reduced mainly by households, with a fall of 1.3 per cent, and by the manufacturing and transport and storage sectors, both of which fell by 0.6 per cent.
The comparison with the same period in 2025 is rosier: emissions fell by 1.2 per cent, while the EU’s GDP grew by 0.8 per cent. This trend, at least in the first quarter of the year, points to economic growth accompanied by a reduction in emissions compared with a year earlier.
At the national level, the trend is not uniform. Compared with the fourth quarter of 2025, emissions rose in 20 Member States and fell in seven in the first quarter of 2026. The sharpest reductions were recorded in Slovenia (-5.0 per cent), Luxembourg (-3.8 per cent) and Romania (-2.7 per cent). At the other end of the scale are Estonia (+9.7 per cent), Finland (+6.4 per cent), and Bulgaria (+4.6 per cent), where the increase is mainly linked to rising emissions from economic operators in the construction sector and in the supply of electricity, gas, steam, and air conditioning. Italy is among the countries where emissions have risen compared with the previous three months, albeit slightly: a 0.2 per cent increase in emissions but a 0.3 per cent rise in GDP.
English version by the Translation Service of Withub
