Greenhouse gas emissions fell by 6.2% in Spain last year

Gross CO2 equivalent emissions totaled 313.5 million tonnes last year, 6.2% less than in 2018

– The level of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions increased by +8.3% compared to 1990 and by 29.3% compared to 2005

– Emissions from installations subject to the European Emissions Trading System decreased by 14% in 2019 and gases from diffuse, unregulated sectors
by the aforementioned system, they fell by 1.6%

– Transport remains the sector that contributes the most to emissions, accounting for 29% of the total

– All sectors have reduced their emissions, except transport and waste

– _CO2 accounts for 80.1% of total GHG emissions, followed by methane, with 12.8%

July 8, 2020- The Ministry for the Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge (MITECO) has published today the Advance of the Inventory of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions corresponding to the year 2019. These preliminary data, which Spain is obliged to send to the European Commission annually, estimate that gross _CO2 equivalent emissions amounted to 313.5 million tons last year, which represents a fall of 6.2% compared to 2018.

These preliminary data show that _CO2 emissions Equivalent have registered an overall decrease in 2019, despite the fact that it was a dry hydrological year, with a decrease in hydraulic production of -27.6%, and in a favorable economic context, with GDP growth of 2%, which shows a decoupling of emissions with respect to economic growth.

Transport remains, as in previous years, the most emitting sector and accounts for 29% of emissions in terms of CO in 2019₂ equivalent, followed by industry (20.6%), electricity generation (13.5%), agriculture and livestock as a whole (12.5%), fuel consumption in the residential, commercial and institutional sectors (8.8%), and waste (4.3%).

Emissions from installations subject to the European Emissions Trading System (ETS) decreased in 2019 by 14% compared to the previous year and emissions from diffuse sectors by 1.6%, however, those from domestic aviation increased by +7.4%.

BY SECTOR

If the _CO2 equivalent emissions by sectors of this advance are compared with respect to those of the previous year (2018) we can see:

• For the transport sector (29% of emissions): a slight increase in emissions linked to transport (+0.7%) mainly due to road transport (which alone accounts for 26.8% of total GHG emissions from the inventory), which has experienced a year-on-year increase of +0.6% generated by an increase in gasoline consumption of +5.7%, despite the slight decrease in diesel consumption of 0.4%. Emissions from national air transport, although they only represent 1% of the total, increased by +7.4% compared to the previous year.

• With respect to electricity generation (13.5% of emissions): a decrease of -28.7% in emissions is estimated due, mainly, to the fall in -64.9% of electricity production by coal. In addition, wind energy production has increased by +9.4%, solar photovoltaic by +19% and solar thermal by +16.8%. Electricity production in combined cycle power plants has increased +85.9% compared to 2018.

• Emissions from industry (20.6% of emissions) are reduced by -2.9%, including both those from fuel consumption (which decrease by 1.3%) and emissions from industrial processes themselves (-6.5%). There are decreases in the non-metallic minerals sectors (ETS emissions from the cement sector decreased by 7.1%) and metallurgy (with a decrease in emissions of -15.1% in the production of primary aluminium and -19.4% in the production or processing of non-ferrous metals).

• The residential, commercial and institutional (RCI) sector (9% of total GHG in 2019) experienced a decrease of -3% due to lower consumption of diesel C in a climatologically very warm year (the sixth warmest year since 1965).

• Emissions from agricultural, forestry and fishing machinery (3.7% of total national emissions) were also reduced (-1.3%) in 2019 compared to the previous year, due to the decrease in the consumption of diesel B.

• The agriculture sector (12.5% of emissions including emissions from livestock) shows a decrease of -1.4%. In the livestock sector, despite the slight growth of livestock herds (responsible for 67.2% of emissions from this sector), emissions were reduced by 0.4%, mainly due to those from manure management (-1.0%) and those from enteric fermentation (-0.1%). Emissions due to crops decreased by -3.4%, mainly due to decreases in N2O emissions derived from the management of agricultural soils due to the lower use of inorganic fertilizers compared to the previous year (-3.2%) and CO2 emissions derived from the application of urea (12.4%).

• The waste sector (4.3% of emissions) slightly increases its GHG emissions (+0.7%) due to the increase in the amounts of solid waste deposited in landfills and treated wastewater. Along with transport, they are the only sectors that do not register decoupling of their emissions from the socioeconomic context (increase in GDP of 2% and population of 0.8%, surpassing for the first time the Spanish population the barrier of 47 million inhabitants).

• Emissions from combustion in refineries (3.5% of emissions): decreased by 3.6%, according to data from the ETS regime.

• Emissions from all fluorinated gases (1.5% of total emissions in terms of CO2-eq): decreased by -5.2%, mainly due to the decrease in the use of HFCs and PFCs in the refrigeration and air conditioning sector, as a result of the application of the tax created by Law 16/2013.

• Removals associated with the land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF) sector have been estimated at 37.5 million tonnes of CO2-eq (equivalent to 12% of gross emissions in 2019). Compared to 2018, absorptions have been lower (year-on-year variation of -1.6%). The overall decrease in removals is linked to the forestry sector (-2.0%, as a result of the decrease in the effect of restocking on the increase in forest biomass), and to a lesser extent to the decrease in the grassland area.