Malta’s carbon dioxide emissions increase in 2012

Carbon Dioxide (CO₂ ) emissions in Malta in 2012 increased by 6.3%. Eu statistics watchdog noted that Malta was one of four countries, the UK, Germany and Lithuania whose CO₂  emissions increased rather than decreased. In 2012, the Member State with the highest level of CO₂ emissions in absolute terms was Germany (728 million tons), followed by the United Kingdom (472 mn tons), Italy (366 mn tons), France (332 mn tons), Poland (297 mn tons) and Spain (258 mn tons). These six Member States accounted together for more than 70% of total EU27 CO₂ emissions in 2012. Eurostat estimates that from 2011 to 2012 CO₂ emissions decreased in nearly all Member States, except Malta (+6.3%), the United Kingdom (+3.9%), Lithuania (+1.7%) and Germany (+0.9%). The largest decreases were recorded in Belgium and Finland (both -11.8%), Sweden (-10.1%), Denmark (-9.4%), Cyprus (-8.5%), Bulgaria (-6.9%), Slovakia (-6.5%), the Czech Republic (-5.2%), Italy and Poland (both -5.1%). Eurostat estimated that in 2012 carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions from fossil fuel combustion decreased by 2.1% in the EU27, compared with the previous year, after a fall of 4.1% in 2011. CO₂ emissions are a major contributor to global warming and account for around 80% of all EU greenhouse gas emissions. They are influenced by factors such as climate conditions, economic growth, size of the population, transport and industrial activities, while various EU energy efficiency initiatives aim to reduce emissions of CO₂ and other greenhouse gases.