EU economy greenhouse gas emissions: -0.5% in Q2 2026

The EU economy's seasonally adjusted greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) in the second quarter of 2026 were estimated at 833 million tonnes of CO2-equivalents (CO2-eq), a 0.5% decrease compared with the first quarter of 2026 (837 million tonnes of CO2-eq). At the same time, the EU's gross domestic product (GDP) increased by 0.8% in the second quarter of 2026, compared with the first quarter of this year.

The following economic activities contributed the most to this reduction of emissions: electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply emissions (-0.44 percentage points (pp)), followed by households (-0.22 pp) and transportation and storage (-0.01 pp). These decreases were partly offset by higher emissions from other economic activities (mostly services) (+0.14 pp) and manufacturing (+0.05 pp).

Source datasets: env_ac_aigg_q and namq_10_gdp

Compared with the second quarter of 2025, emissions increased by 1.4%, while the EU's GDP increased by 1.5%.

Greenhouse gas emissions decreased in 18 EU countries

In the second quarter of 2026, seasonally adjusted greenhouse gas emissions increased in 8 EU countries, decreased in 18 countries, and remained unchanged in 1 country, compared with the first quarter of 2026.

The largest reductions in greenhouse gas emissions were estimated for Estonia (-15.5%), Latvia (-10.6%) and Finland (-7.6%).
The largest increases in these emissions were estimated for Malta (+4.8%), Ireland (+1.0%) and Romania (+0.8%).

The 8 EU countries that recorded increases in greenhouse gas emissions also increased their GDP. 18 countries reduced their greenhouse gas emissions and out of these, 16 countries recorded a higher or stable GDP.

Source datasets: env_ac_aigg_q and namq_10_gdp

This information comes from data on seasonally adjusted quarterly estimates of greenhouse gas emissions by economic activity, published by Eurostat today. Quarterly estimates of greenhouse gas emissions complement quarterly socio-economic data, such as GDP or employment.