The chart above shows transportation-based carbon dioxide emissions broken down by population in EU regions. The Northern EU emits more carbon dioxide per person than all the other three regions combined.
Findings
- The difference between the region with the most per capita emissions, the Northern EU, and the region with the least, the Eastern EU, is 2.47 metric tons.
- The Northern EU emits 5.84 times the per capita carbon dioxide that the Eastern EU does.
- The Southern and Eastern EU emit less than one metric ton per person from their transportation sources annually, the Western EU emits around one metric ton, and the Northern EU emits nearly three times that.
Caveats
- Population data is from 2011.
- Emissions data is from 2013.
- All figures are rounded to the nearest hundredth.
- The Northern EU consists of Sweden, Denmark, and Finland.
- The Western EU consists of Germany, United Kingdom, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Ireland, and Luxembourg.
- The Southern EU consists of Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Cyprus, and Malta.
- The Eastern EU consists of Poland, Czech Republic, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Slovenia, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia.
Details
It really is surprising to see the Northern EU be such an outlier in this metric. Perhaps the upcoming posts that will look into emissions per economic output may shed a light as to why this is.
The European Union as a whole emits 0.93 metric tons of carbon dioxide per person from transportation sources annually ranking it just under the Western EU and above the Southern EU.
Sources
Eurostat. 2017. "Data Explorer." Accessed December 11, 2017. http://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?dataset=urb_lpop1&lang=en.
Eurostat. 2018. "Eurostat - Data Explorer: Air Emissions Accounts." Accessed April 17, 2018. http://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?query=BOOKMARK_DS-286146_QID_2207DEA6_UID_-3F171EB0&layout=TIME,C,X,0;GEO,L,Y,0;AIRPOL,L,Z,0;NACE_R2,L,Z,1;UNIT,L,Z,2;INDICATORS,C,Z,3;&zSelection=DS-286146INDICATORS,OBS_FLAG;DS-286146UNIT,T;DS-286146NACE_R2,H;DS-286146AIRPOL,CO2;&rankName1=UNIT_1_2_-1_2&rankName2=AIRPOL_1_2_-1_2&rankName3=INDICATORS_1_2_-1_2&rankName4=NACE-R2_1_2_-1_2&rankName5=TIME_1_0_0_0&rankName6=GEO_1_2_0_1&sortC=ASC_-1_FIRST&rStp=&cStp=&rDCh=&cDCh=&rDM=true&cDM=true&footnes=false&empty=false&wai=false&time_mode=NONE&time_most_recent=false&lang=EN&cfo=%23%23%23%2C%23%23%23.%23%23%23.