Emissions of greenhouse gases – after the pandemic decrease
Significant declines in the emissions of greenhouse gases were seen during 2020, the first year of the pandemic. In the Nordic region, total emissions were down by over 10%. In the two subsequent years, emissions increased again, but not back to pre-pandemic levels and in Finland emissions have decreased even further.
During the first year of the Covid-pandemic a large part of society shut down. This effected a lot of things, amongst them the emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the world. The Nordic region was no exception, total emissions were down by over 10% in 2020 compared to the previous year. In the two years following, total emissions rose again, but not back to pre-pandemic levels.
Source: Nordic Statistics Database, EMIS11
Before Covid, the trend had been downward for almost 20 years, but the decline in 2020 was larger than would have been expected under normal circumstances. Below, the change in total emissions compared to the previous year is illustrated, in percent, for the Nordic region and the EU. In 2020 emissions in both the Nordic region and the EU were down by over 10%. In the Nordic region the average yearly decrease up until that point had been 0.75% and in the EU 1.25%.
In 2021, emissions rose again, but less in the Nordics than in the EU - by 1.6% compared to 5.4%. In 2022, both the Nordics and the EU reported decreases in line with those pre-pandemic, total emissions were down by 1.25% and 1.3%, respectively, compared to 2021.
Source: Nordic Statistics Database, EMIS11
When analysed by sector, the Energy sector accounts for the by far largest emissions, 65% of the total in the Nordic region in 2022. Industrial processes and product use and the Agricultural sector have similar shares, 13 and 15% respectively, while Waste management accounts for 3% and International aviation for 4%.
The Energy sector has the largest share of emissions in all countries except Iceland, where Industrial processes and product use is larger.
Source: Nordic Statistics Database, EMIS11
Since the Energy sector have the largest emissions, it is reasonable that this sector showed the largest decrease in emissions in terms of CO2 equivalents in 2020[1]. In 2021, emissions from this sector increased again, but not as much as they decreased in 2020, and in 2022 they decreased to a level lower than that of 2020.
A sector that is much smaller in emissions is International aviation, but this is where the largest relative decline was seen – the emissions from this sector declined by 67% in the Nordic region in 2020. Travelling internationally was heavily restricted in all Nordic countries during the majority of the year. As can be seen below, this was quite the break in trend as this is the only sector that has almost continuously increased its emissions since 1990. In 2021, a small increase could be seen, but the big jump came in 2022, when many seem to have returned to pre-pandemic travel habits (albeit not all).
According to UN Tourism agency, global tourism had made a full recovery by end of the 2024 [2], but the impact that has had on emissions remains to be seen as the 2024 greenhouse gas emissions inventory will not be ready until 2026.
Source: Nordic Statistics Database, EMIS11
Other sectors and Indirect CO2 have been excluded from the analysis because of missing data from multiple countries.
BY COUNTRY
The decline from 2019 to 2020 in the separate countries varied between 3%, in Greenland, and 16%, in Iceland. Since, comparing 2020 with 2022, total emissions have declined even further in Finland, by 2%, remained roughly at 2020 levels in Sweden, Norway and Denmark and increased in Greenland and Iceland, by 13 and 14%, respectively. In the EU, total emissions in 2022 were 4% higher than in 2020.
Worth noting is that total emissions in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden are almost equal today, despite the countries difference in population. This is mainly due to differences in use of fossil fuels and industrial sectors.
Source: Nordic Statistics Database, EMIS11
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Please note that Faroe Islands has been excluded from the analysis, as no data is available. The Nordic region is here therefore comprised of seven countries. For Åland only data on total emissions are available, not per sector. Åland is however also included in the figures for Finland.
[1] In the International Energy Agency report “Global Energy Review: CO2 Emissions in 2020” it was stated that global energy-related CO2 emissions fell by 5.8% in 2020, and that the decline in CO2 emissions from oil use in the transport sector accounted for well over 50% of this drop. No corresponding figure is available for the Nordic region, but it is reasonable to assume that a decline in the transport sector (excluding International aviation) had a large impact here as well.