Greenhouse gas emissions drop to record low

The total emissions of greenhouse gases in 2019 corresponded with 52.8 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO₂ eq.), according to Statistics Finland.

Emissions have fallen by 26 per cent from the comparison year 1990 and by 38 per cent from 2003, when emissions were at their highest during the 1990 to 2019 time series.

Compared with the previous year, emissions decreased by six per cent. The fall in emissions was most affected by the decreased consumption of coal and peat. In the energy sector, emissions fell by eight per cent (3.3 tonnes of CO₂ eq.) and the emissions from industrial processes and product use by five per cent (0.3 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent).

Emissions from agriculture grew by one per cent (0.1 million tonnes of CO₂ eq.) and emissions in the waste sector fell by five per cent (0.1 million tonnes of CO₂ eq.) from 2018 to 2019. According to the instant preliminary data, the net sink, i.e., the sum of emissions and removals of the land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF) sector was -17.4 million tonnes of CO₂ eq. in 2019, or 70 per cent higher than that in the year before. The emissions and removals of this sector are usually not included in total emissions.