# Greenhouse gas emissions (CO₂ equivalents) by pollutor group

A map of a former edition of the Atlas of Switzerland, the national atlas published by ETH Zurich. It opens only in the desktop atlas (version 4) for Windows and macOS, not in the web atlas; see the links below.

- Map: https://atlasderschweiz.ch/en/theme/greenhouse-gas-emissions-co-equivalents-by-pollutor-group/
- Short title: Greenhouse gases: emissions by pollutor group
- Map id: 295
- Categories: Global Switzerland › Nature and Environment › Emissions
- Keywords: Energy, Fossil energy
- Published: 2010-11-26
- Last revised: 2021-08-17
- Content language: English
- Other languages: [Deutsch](https://atlasderschweiz.ch/de/thema/treibhausgasemissionen-co-aequivalente-nach-verursachergruppe.md), [Français](https://atlasderschweiz.ch/fr/theme/gaz-a-effet-de-serre-equivalents-en-co-par-groupe-dexpediteur.md), [Italiano](https://atlasderschweiz.ch/it/tema/emissioni-di-gas-a-effetto-serra-equivalenti-co-per-autore.md)

## Description

*The largest emitters*
In 2019, the 28 EU member states emitted around 4,378 million tonnes of greenhouse gases in CO₂ equivalents. Between them, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Poland were behind around 60% of these emissions. Germany alone was responsible for 19%.

*Per capita emissions*
When the 2019 greenhouse gas emissions are measured according to population, the big emitters range between Sweden at only 5.9 t CO₂ equivalents per capita and Luxembourg at 20.3 t CO₂ equivalents per capita. Switzerland’s emissions are only just higher than Sweden’s at 6.1 t CO₂ equivalents per capita. France and Italy are at the lower end with approximately 6.9 and 7.3 t respectively, the EU as a whole is in the middle with 9.7 t, the figure for Poland is 10.4 t and Germany comes in between with 10.2 t CO₂ equivalents per capita.

*Emissions in relation to Gross Domestic Product (GDP)*
A completely different picture emerges when the 2019 greenhouse gas emissions are considered in relation to economic performance in the form of GDP. Bulgaria is then at the upper end with 1,084 t CO₂ equivalents per million EUR, Malta not far behind with 800 t CO₂ equivalents per million EUR, Germany is in the middle with around 266 t CO₂ equivalents per million EUR, and Italy and France are just behind with 253 t and 196 t CO₂ equivalents per million EUR respectively. Sweden produces the lowest greenhouse gas emissions in relation to GDP in the EU with just 123 t CO₂ equivalents per million EUR. Switzerland emits even less with 76 t CO₂ equivalents per million EUR.

*Trends*
Between 1990 and 2018, the emissions of the 28 EU member states fell by 1,465 million t in CO₂ equivalents (-25.1%). The energy supply sector was responsible for 24.3% of emissions in 2019. Since 1990, emissions in this sector have fallen by over 43.1%. Agriculture was behind around 11.6% of greenhouse gas emissions, but these had been reduced by approximately 19.6% between 1990 and 2019. Industry caused 19.1% of greenhouse gas emissions in 2019, with this figure having fallen by over 37.7% since 1990. Emissions from the waste management industry, responsible for 3.1% of all emissions, fell by almost 43.8% in the same period. The residential and commercial sector is currently behind around 12.2% of greenhouse gas emissions and these have sunk by 26.3% since 1990. It is only in the transport sector that emissions increased by 30.7%, accounting for 29% of all emissions in 2019.

*Switzerland*
Greenhouse gas emissions within Switzerland’s territory have decreased by 14% since 1990. In 2019, the greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere within Switzerland amounted to 46.2 million tonnes of CO2 equivalents (not including international air traffic and shipping). This gives a per capita greenhouse gas release of 5.5 tonnes of CO2 equivalents (CO2: 4.4 tonnes per capita).
Of Switzerland's total greenhouse gas emissions:

- 32% are caused by transport (excluding air transport);
- 24% by buildings;
- 24% by industry;
- 19% by agriculture, waste management and emissions of synthetic gases.

The trend in Switzerland is not the same in all sectors. Emissions caused by transport have only recently decreased somewhat. In 2019, they were still 1% above their 1990 level. However, emissions in the buildings sector and the industrial sector have been reduced by 34% and 19% respectively compared to 1990.

## Sources

- FOEN (2021): [Climate: In brief](https://www.bafu.admin.ch/bafu/de/home/themen/klima/inkuerze.html)
- Umweltbundesamt (2020): [Treibhausgas-Emissionen in der Europäischen Union](https://www.umweltbundesamt.de/daten/klima/treibhausgas-emissionen-in-der-europaeischen-union#grosste-emittenten)

## Data sources

- EEA (2021): [EEA greenhouse gases - data viewer](https://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/data/data-viewers/greenhouse-gases-viewer)
- Eurostat: [Geobasisdaten Europa](http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/gisco/geodata/reference-data)

## Data owners

- [European Environment Agency (EEA)](https://www.eea.europa.eu)
- [Eurostat (Eurostat)](http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/)

## Citation

The terms of use ask to name the Atlas of Switzerland and the data owners, and to keep the source references in exports, screenshots and embeds. Cite the map as:

> Atlas of Switzerland (2021): Greenhouse gas emissions (CO₂ equivalents) by pollutor group. ETH Zürich. Map data © EEA, Eurostat. https://atlasderschweiz.ch/en/theme/greenhouse-gas-emissions-co-equivalents-by-pollutor-group/

## Links

- Map page, with the description and sources and a button that opens the map in the desktop atlas: https://atlasderschweiz.ch/en/theme/greenhouse-gas-emissions-co-equivalents-by-pollutor-group/
- Open the map in the desktop atlas (version 4), where it is installed: adsglobe://map/295
- Download of the desktop atlas (version 4) for Windows and macOS: https://atlasderschweiz.ch/en/ads4-download/

For the use and citation of maps and data, see the [terms of use](https://atlasderschweiz.ch/en/terms-of-use/).