Published : Sep 07,
2012 Last modified : Sep 13, 2012 11:47
AM - Greenhouse gas emissions from the European
Union (EU) fell by 2.5 %, despite higher
coal consumption and a growing gross domestic
product (GDP), according to new estimates
from the European Environment Agency (EEA).
Emissions fell even further in the 15 Member
States with a common commitment under the
Kyoto Protocol (EU-15), going down by 3.5
% between 2010 and 2011. Based on these
EEA estimates, EU 2011 emissions stand approximately
17.5 % below the 11000 level. The EU-15
stands 14.1 % below the base-year level
under the Kyoto Protocol.
The main reasons for
the decrease in emissions were a milder
winter in most parts of the EU, which resulted
in lower heating demand from households,
and reduced natural gas consumption. Renewable
energy consumption also continued to increase
in 2011, which contributed to the observed
decrease in emissions.
The economic sectors
not covered by the EU Emission Trading System
(EU ETS) reduced emissions by approximately
3.1 %. The sectors contributing most to
lower emissions in the European Union in
2011 were households and the service sector.
The transport sector also contributed by
reducing emissions for the fourth consecutive
year. Emissions under the EU ETS were cut
by 1.8 % in 2011.
The EEA's early greenhouse
gas emission estimates
The EEA estimates of EU's total 2011 greenhouse
gas emissions are based on publicly available
verified EU-ETS emissions, and other national
and European sources, available as of mid-July
2012.
The EEA estimates exclude data for carbon
sinks, international aviation and shipping
as well as emission reductions achieved
through the Kyoto Protocol's flexible mechanisms.
These data will be made available with EEA's
Greenhouse Gas Inventory 2011, to be published
in June 2013.
The uncertainty in the current emissions
estimates is 2.5 % (+/-0.3 percentage points)
for EU-27, and -3.5 % (+/-0.64 percentage
points) for the EU 15.
What next?
Details of EEA and Member State emission
estimates for 2011 will be published in
an EEA Technical Report on the approximated
EU greenhouse gas inventory in October 2012.
The 2011 estimates will
feed into the EEA report on greenhouse gas
emission trends and projections in Europe.
The report will track progress towards the
European Union's greenhouse gas mitigation
targets under the Kyoto Protocol and up
to 2020.
The official 2011 greenhouse gas emissions
for the EU will be available by mid-2013,
published as the 'EU Greenhouse Gas Inventory
11000–2011 and Inventory Report 2013', compiled
and quality-checked by the EEA. This EEA
report will be subsequently submitted to
the United Nations Framework Convention
on Climate Change (UNFCCC) by the European
Commission on behalf of the European Union.
+ More
How vulnerable could
your city be to climate impacts?
Published : Sep 04,
2012 Last modified : Sep 22, 2012 11:49
PM - Climate change will affect Europe's
cities in different ways. To give an overall
impression of the challenge for European
cities to adapt to climate change, the European
Environment Agency (EEA) has published a
series of detailed interactive maps, allowing
users to explore data from more than 500
cities across Europe.
Climate change is expected to increase the
frequency and intensity of river floods
and extreme temperature events in many parts
of Europe. If heavy rain caused rivers to
rise by one metre, which European cities
could be most at risk from flooding? Which
cities could provide relief during heat
waves with large green areas and which city
designs could most exacerbate the effect
of heat waves? What are the capacities of
different European cities to cope with climate
change impacts and to adapt to future changes?
The recently published
EEA report 'Urban adaptation to climate
change in Europe' provides initial answers
to these and similar questions. Several
maps included in the report are now also
made available on the interactive Eye on
Earth information service. The interactive
maps allow users to explore data from more
than 500 cities in Europe and get a quick
impression of some of the adaptation challenges
in Europe’s cities. For example, the map
below shows aspects of vulnerability to
heat waves.
Heat wave risk: The
interactive map shows three types of information
layers: 1. The share of green urban areas
that could provide cooling during heat waves.
2. The population density per city which
is associated with variables such as the
lack of green space, high building mass
storing heat and anthropogenic heat production
that can intensify the ‘urban heat island’
effect. 3. Modelled climate change projections
on the number of combined tropical nights
and hot days for the period 2071 - 2100.
More interactive functions
for this map can be found on the Eye on
Earth website. Here, users can combine different
datasets from the report, for example combining
the heat wave map with information showing
the share of elderly people who are generally
more sensitive to heat. Users can also choose
to incorporate datasets made available by
other organisations or individuals through
Eye on Earth.
Climate-ADAPT
The EEA also hosts Climate-ADAPT in cooperation
with the European Commission. Climate-ADAPT
is the European Union's most advanced platform
for sharing data and information on adaptation
to climate change.
+ More
Potent greenhouse gases
– fluorinated gases in the European Union
Published : Sep 11,
2012 Last modified : Sep 14, 2012 10:34
AM - The European Environment Agency (EEA)
has published new aggregated information
on the production and trade of fluorinated
gases – or F-gases – in the EU. Although
emitted in relatively small quantities,
the emissions of these gases are increasing,
and many are several thousand times more
powerful greenhouse gases than carbon dioxide
(CO2).
Innovation is a key part of tackling climate
change and for certain applications, viable
alternatives to F-gases already exist.
EEA Executive Director
Jacqueline McGlade
In 2011, F-gases were used mostly for refrigeration
and air-conditioning purposes, as well as
in electrical equipment and in the production
of foams and aerosols.
The new report, compiled
by the EEA for the first time in cooperation
with the European Commission, presents a
summary of the latest data reported under
the 'F-Gas Regulation' (No 842/2006) by
120 individual companies that have produced,
sold, imported or exported F-gases in the
European Union (EU).
The F-Gas Regulation
is one of the main legal instruments with
which the EU aims to reduce F-gas emissions
by requiring companies to take a range of
measures to reduce leaks from equipment
containing F-gases and to recover the gases
at the end of the equipment's lifetime.
Companies are also required to avoid using
F-gases for some applications where environmentally
superior alternatives are cost-effective.
F-gases are important
because they contributed 2 % of total EU-27
GHG emissions in 2010, measured in terms
of CO2-equivalent. Moreover, according to
the latest official EU greenhouse gas emissions
data, their contribution has been steadily
growing since 11000.
"Innovation is
a key part of tackling climate change and
for certain applications, viable alternatives
to F-gases already exist," EEA Executive
Director Jacqueline McGlade said. "This
makes them an ideal candidate to replace
with less harmful alternatives, in order
to limit the growth of emissions".
Key findings
Any company producing, importing or exporting
more than one tonne of F-gases is required
to report data to the European Commission.
120 companies reported
production, sales, import or export of F-gases
for 2011, an increase of 12 % on the previous
year.
In absolute tonnes of gas, there was a decrease
in production (-5 %), imports (-6 %) and
intra-EU sales (-12 %) of F-gases between
2010 and 2011. Exports increased by 5 %.
When these values are
expressed in terms of global warming potential
(GWP)-weighted emissions, different patterns
emerge due to the large differences in GWP
values of certain F-gases. An increase is
still evident in exported F-gases (+12 %),
but now also for production (+1 %). There
were decreases in both imports (-8 %) and
sales (-11 %).
Due to its very high
global warming potential (GWP), sulphur
hexafluoride (SF6) makes up a significant
proportion of F-gas use when statistics
are expressed in terms of CO2-equivalents.
This gas is used mainly in electrical equipment.
It should be noted that
F-gases contained in imported equipment
are not captured by the statistics in the
report.
The European Commission is presently investigating
further possible options for strengthening
EU measures to reduce emissions of fluorinated
gases and intends to present a new legal
proposal this autumn.
About fluorinated greenhouse
gases
Three groups of fluorinated greenhouse gases
(the so-called 'F-gases') are covered by
EU legislation and the UNFCCC Kyoto Protocol:
hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons
(PFCs) and SF6. These F-gases have chemical
properties which make them useful in different
types of products and applications, mainly
as substitutes of ozone-depleting substances
such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), hydrochlorofluorocarbons
(HCFCs) and halons which are being phased
out under the Montreal Protocol. The gases
are used in a range of applications including
refrigeration and air conditioning equipment,
for manufacturing electronic goods including
semiconductors, and in certain aerosols,
foams and fire extinguishing systems.
While F-gases do not
deplete the ozone layer, they are powerful
greenhouse gases typically with long lifetimes
in the atmosphere. Their GWP – the measure
indicating the effectiveness of a substance
to absorb thermal infrared radiation relative
to carbon dioxide (and thus their contribution
to climate change) – can be thousands of
times higher than that of CO2.
