New Research Shows EU Carbon Footprint Has Shrunk by 9% Since 2015

CarbonSpace, an independent carbon footprint monitoring startup, has released data from across the EU and UK revealing that since the Paris Agreement was signed in 2015, total carbon emissions for the region have reduced by 9% (8.88%).

According to the CarbonSpace assessment, the countries with the largest carbon footprints from across the European geographical region in 2020 were Germany, the UK, Italy, France and Poland.

These countries account for two-thirds of the region’s total carbon footprint; with ten countries responsible for 92% of its footprint.

Germany makes up the largest portion at 24%, followed by the UK (13%), Italy (12%), France (9%), Poland (9%), Spain (8%), Netherlands (6%), Belgium (5%), Czech Republic (4%), with Greece at 2%.

The top five emitting countries appear to have reduced their carbon footprints at varying rates since the Paris Agreement was signed. Germany has reduced its emissions by 3.8%, Italy by 6.6%, France by 13.6% and Poland by 5.6%.

The UK, which was the second biggest net emitter in 2020, reduced its carbon footprint by 20.75% from 2016 to 2020.

Mark Griffiths, Managing Director, ClimateCare, commented: “The results demonstrate that we are miles off-track. Science tells us that we need to halve emissions by 2030 to get on a 1.5°C trajectory and avoid disastrous climate impacts, and we have only managed a little over 8% in the 5 years post the Paris Agreement.

“We need to deploy every tool in the toolkit, leveraging both natural and technological solutions, with a high level of accountability and transparency from governments and corporations, so we can keep this planet habitable for all.

“This is where CarbonSpace can play a meaningful role in our economic transition to meet the Paris Agreement goals.”

The science-based platform seeks to provide data that will enable governments, corporates and landowners and operators alike, to reduce their carbon footprint and target nature-based solutions at scale and speed.

Dublin-based CarbonSpace compared the carbon footprints of European countries in the five years leading up to the Paris Agreement being signed, with the five years that followed to observe whether commitments to climate action resulted in a net footprint reduction. Overall, the results show that carbon footprints across the region have decreased.

The top ten emissions data is part of an international carbon footprint estimation that is publicly available to view on the CarbonSpace website.

The CarbonSpace estimation reveals that carbon footprints internationally have not decreased significantly over the past twenty years, despite urgent calls for emissions reductions to limit global temperature increases to 1.5 degrees.

The new set of data captured using AI- and satellite-powered technology, looks at the total carbon footprint of an area. Traditionally, emissions data reports solely on anthropogenic emissions of a given area.

CarbonSpace technology maps the total carbon balance, including both anthropogenic and biospheric fluxes, providing a new level of transparency in carbon accounting.

The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report earlier this year stated that global emissions must be halved by 2030 in order to limit temperature increases to 1.5 degrees.

Nature and natural climate solutions can provide approximately one-third of cost-effective CO2 mitigation needed to limit global warming to 1.5°C by 2030, according to a recent report from the World Economic Forum.

However, analysis from the Climate Policy Initiative shows that currently nature-based solutions only receive 8% of public climate finance.

Nature-based solutions featured prominently at the UN’s COP26 climate summit last month and were ultimately included in a draft of what became the Glasgow Climate Pact.

The Pact commits signatory countries to a long-term goal of ensuring nature and ecosystems act as “sinks and reservoirs of greenhouse gases”, emphasising the role of nature in climate change mitigation.

The new data released is a snapshot of what CarbonSpace technology can do to support climate action. The team is developing a solution to track emissions and sequestrations from farms, fields, forests, and other land use anywhere in the world.

Dr. Oleg Demidov, CEO and Co-founder, CarbonSpace, commented: “Our aim in creating the CarbonSpace platform is to provide a global carbon footprint transparency and encourage improved and more sustainable land management practices, in particular within the agri-food and forestry sectors.

“By unleashing the power of nature-based solutions within these sectors using cost-effective and highly scalable CarbonSpace monitoring technology, we can reduce carbon footprints to help meet net-zero goals.”

The CarbonSpace tool can provide estimations on different levels, from global to local, helping governments, businesses, and land-owners to monitor land-based emissions and uptakes through their supply chains.

This is particularly pertinent to the agrifood sector, where land management has a significant impact on the overall carbon footprint.

Recent research from UNEP shows that investment in nature-based solutions needs to triple by 2030 if the world is to meet its climate change targets.

CarbonSpace data can help attract finance to nature-based solutions by improving transparency, monitoring and accountability, in turn reducing costs and lowering risk which acts as a barrier to investment.

To view the international dataset in action visit: map.carbonspace.tech