According to recent research, Europe’s net greenhouse gas emissions have decreased by around 25% since the 1990s. The paper, published in the journal Global Biochemical Cycles, describes how a team of scientists compiled an up-to-date carbon budget for continental Europe for the three main greenhouse gases – carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide – over three decades: the 1990s, the 2000s and the 2010s.
The graph here shows the total carbon dioxide budget for the last three decades (grey) and changes in fluxes of anthropogenic emissions (red) and the land components. From the 2000s to the 2010s the reduction in anthropogenic emissions (red) was 3.5 times as strong as between the previous decade, resulting in a significant fall in net carbon dioxide emissions. The land carbon dioxide sink (sum of remaining colours) weakened, decreasing from –68 to 318 Tg carbon dioxide per year over the corresponding period. Note: negative values indicate a sink.