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Environmental Accounts Air Emissions 2020

Greenhouse gas emissions by resident units fell 17% in 2020

Online ISSN: 2009-7840

CSO statistical publication, 26 October 2022, 11am

COVID-19 Release Information

The greenhouse gas emissions data in this release were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on road and air transport, greenhouse gas emissions from these activities fell in 2020.

Key Findings

Greenhouse gas emissions by resident units fell 17% to 63.4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent from 2019 to 2020 (see Table A), mainly due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on foreign air travel.
Territorial greenhouse gas emissions decreased by 4% to 57.7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent from 2019 to 2020. (See Table A)
Greenhouse gas emissions from Industry (-6%), Services (-49%), and Households (-6%) decreased in 2020 while emissions from Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing increased by 1%. (See Table A and Figure 1)
Greenhouse gas emissions from the Services sector fell by 49% in 2020 to 12.4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent. As the Services sector includes air and road transport services, the decrease arose from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on foreign air travel.
Emissions of all air pollutants except particulate matter fell in 2020. (See Tables 6-12)

Statistician's Comment

Commenting on the release Clare O'Hara, Statistician in the Environment and Climate Division, said: "Greenhouse gas emissions by resident units decreased by 17% in 2020, falling from 76.7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2019 to 63.4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2020. The term resident units is used to describe economic units of a country which have engaged for at least one year in economic activity in that territory. The main reason for the decrease in greenhouse gas emissions in 2020 was the fall in emissions from foreign air travel due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Air Pollutant Emissions

Emissions of the air pollutants sulphur oxides, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, non-methane volatile organic compounds, and ammonia all decreased in 2020, but emissions of particulate matter increased.

Greenhouse Gas Emissions by Sector

Greenhouse gas emissions from the Industry, Services, and Household sectors decreased in 2020 while emissions from Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing increased by 1%. The Industry sector showed a decrease in emissions each year from 2017 to 2020. The Services sector includes road and air transport and emissions from this sector increased each year from 2011 until 2020 when emissions fell by 49%.

Territorial and Residence Principle Emissions

Territorial greenhouse gas emissions decreased by 4% to 57.7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2020. Territorial emissions are emissions produced on the territory of Ireland. They are reported annually by the Environmental Protection Agency and are used to determine whether Ireland has met its legally binding emissions targets.

Residence principle emissions are calculated from territorial principle emissions by removing transport emissions from non-resident units on the territory of Ireland, and by adding transport emissions by Irish resident units abroad. Residence principle emissions are compiled using the same principles and classifications as National Accounts to ensure compatibility with economic indicators."

Headline Results

Table A Greenhouse Gas Emissions by Sector
Million tonnes CO₂ equivalent						Change	% change
	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2020/2019	2020/2019
Territorial Principle Emissions (EPA)	62.7	62.1	62.4	59.9	57.7	-2.1	-4%

- Non-resident Activity in Ireland	1.5	0.8	0.9	1.1	0.5	-0.6	-51%
+ Irish Resident Activity Abroad	14.1	16.1	17.4	18.0	6.2	-11.8	-65%

Residence Principle Emissions (SEEA¹), of which	75.3	77.3	78.8	76.7	63.4	-13.3	-17%

Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing	20.5	21.2	22.1	21.2	21.5	0.2	1%
Industry	21.1	20.7	19.5	18.4	17.3	-1.0	-6%
Services	20.0	22.4	23.8	24.1	12.4	-11.8	-49%
Households	13.6	13.0	13.3	13.0	12.2	-0.8	-6%
¹System of Environmental Economic Accounting

Open in Excel: Environmental Accounts Air Emissions 2020 Table A (XLS 10KB)

Greenhouse Gas Emissions by NACE Sector

The Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing sector produced 34% of greenhouse gas emissions by resident units in Ireland in 2020. A further 27% of greenhouse gas emissions came from the Industry sector. The Services sector was the source of 20% of greenhouse gas emissions by resident units and the remaining 19% were emitted by Households.

	Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing	Industry	Services	Households
2010	19.233436291	20.21043731643	14.598200949	15.55212869
2011	18.549906346	18.22979934066	15.170132461	14.30777086
2012	19.335592778	19.34937608456	15.172224914	13.706983411
2013	20.078147362	18.42923422653	15.636807457	13.608132669
2014	19.526250015	19.16317516427	15.918932592	12.944272978
2015	20.039050061	20.12017143419	16.864417896	13.341167496
2016	20.547503025	21.10310307894	20.002374711	13.613327303
2017	21.249080451	20.65631031584	22.407467613	13.018833895
2018	22.095251288	19.5371793065	23.830210416	13.347755986
2019	21.20919691	18.35236272267	24.148179007	13.030795719
2020	21.457473681	17.31488606576	12.382647622	12.245841799

Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing

Greenhouse gas emissions from Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing were at their highest of the period 2010-2020 in 2018 at 22.1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent. Emissions from the sector increased in each year from 2015 to 2018 inclusive, then fell by 4% in 2019 and rose again by 1% to 21.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2020 (see Figure 1 and Table 1.)

Industry

Emissions from the Industry sector decreased for the fourth year in a row in 2020, falling by 6% to 17.3 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent. This was the lowest of the period 2010-2020 (see Figure 1 and Table 1).

Services

The Services sector includes air and road transport services, so it is affected by the residence principle adjustment. Carbon dioxide emissions from Irish airlines operating abroad have a large impact on the level of emissions attributed to the Services sector. Greenhouse gas emissions were at their highest of the period 2010-2020 in 2019, at 24.1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent. They were at their lowest in 2020 when emissions from air transport decreased due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Emissions from this sector rose in each year from 2010 to 2019 inclusive until the fall in emissions in 2020 (see Figure 1 and Table 1).

Households

Emissions from Households were 12.2 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2020, a decrease of 6% on 2019 and the lowest of the period 2010-2020 (see Figure 1 and Table 1). Household emissions are mainly due to transport in private cars and heating. In 2020 emissions from Household transport fell due to the reduction in travel during the COVID-19 pandemic.

	Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing	Industry	Services	Households
Carbon dioxide	1.148786	15.7875144	12.0790868	11.8246078
Methane	13.8874428	0.860182	0.011441	0.1512384
Nitrous oxide	6.4206284	0.2719669	0.110747	0.063876
Fluorinated gases	0.0006165	0.3952227	0.1813728	0.2061196

Figure 2 shows greenhouse gas emissions in units of carbon dioxide equivalent, with a breakdown by greenhouse gas and NACE sector. Tables 2-5 provide a breakdown of carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and fluorinated gas emissions by NACE.

In 2020, 39% of carbon dioxide emissions were from Industry, 30% were emitted by the Services sector and 29% came from Households.

The Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing sector was the source of 93% of methane emissions and 93% of nitrous oxide emissions in 2020, while 50% of fluorinated gas emissions were emitted by the Industry sector.

Air Pollutant Emissions by NACE Sector

Data on emissions by resident units of the air pollutants sulphur oxides, nitrogen oxides, ammonia, carbon monoxide, non-methane volatile organic compounds, fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) and larger particulate matter (PM₁₀) are shown in Tables 6-12. Emissions of all air pollutants except particulate matter fell in 2020.

The NACE sector share of each air pollutant in 2020 is shown in Figure 3 and Tables 6-12.

	Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing	Industry	Services	Households
Sulphur oxides	0.216945996275605	31.6396648044693	3.46182495344507	64.6815642458101
Nitrogen oxides	40.1410547117467	17.271759921967	24.7331340283672	17.854051337919
Ammonia	99.4187266767422	0.143758382191464	0.0961900787267578	0.341324862339599
NMVOC	41.1545775942127	35.8242759252584	1.33965591023622	21.6814905702926
Carbon monoxide	1.03777644203134	13.2030323633843	3.95895535869719	81.8002358358871
PM2.5	8.68718058800703	20.0576283220911	7.26793867289735	63.9872524170045
PM10	32.1901912888774	35.9492526713368	3.73574659335062	28.1248094464352

Households were the source of 65% of sulphur oxide emissions, 82% of carbon monoxide emissions and 64% of emissions of fine particulate matter (PM_2.5). Each of the four sectors was responsible for a substantial share of emissions of nitrogen oxides. The Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing sector was the source of 99% of ammonia emissions and 41% of emissions of non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOC). Larger particulate matter (PM₁₀) was mainly emitted by the Industry sector, the Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing sector, and the Household sector.

Table 1 Greenhouse Gas Emissions (CO2, N2O, CH4, HFC, PFC, SF6, NF3) by NACE Sector

Table 1 Greenhouse Gas Emissions (CO₂, N₂O, CH₄, HFC, PFC, SF₆, NF₃) by NACE Sector							'000 tonnes CO₂ equivalent
NACE Rev. 2	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing (01-03)	19,233	18,550	19,336	20,078	19,526	20,039	20,548	21,249	22,095	21,209	21,457

Industry (05-43)	20,210	18,230	19,349	18,429	19,163	20,120	21,103	20,656	19,537	18,352	17,315
Mining and quarrying (05-09)	87	82	78	87	85	81	84	84	89	147	118
Food products, beverages and tobacco products (10-12)	1,068	1,049	1,154	1,169	1,167	1,227	1,297	1,355	1,330	1,291	1,254
Textiles, wearing apparel and leather products (13-15)	22	17	15	20	38	33	42	44	28	33	33
Wood and paper products and printing (16-18)	60	58	58	73	103	60	69	78	74	67	65
Coke and refined petroleum products (19)	440	381	420	419	379	433	411	410	400	338	371
Chemicals and chemical products (20)	207	247	252	232	241	242	227	244	257	236	223
Basic pharmaceutical products and pharmaceutical preparations (21)	244	183	197	188	188	196	204	192	204	236	237
Rubber and plastic products and other non-metallic mineral products (22-23)	2,201	1,987	2,295	2,285	2,863	3,100	3,263	3,333	3,507	3,389	3,192
Basic metals and fabricated metal products, except machinery and equipment (24-25)	1,632	1,422	1,278	1,398	1,376	1,364	1,336	1,382	1,400	1,414	1,386
Computer, electronic and optical products (26)	107	87	63	75	56	95	106	111	118	135	131
Electrical equipment (27)	46	41	33	33	49	33	40	46	29	27	23
Machinery and equipment not elsewhere classified (28)	69	85	121	170	144	133	115	116	89	96	80
Transport equipment (29-30)	8	11	10	15	9	6	10	7	8	10	9
Furniture; other manufacturing; repair and installation of machinery and equipment (31-33)	115	147	137	196	179	161	180	162	173	147	142
Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply (35)	12,982	11,616	12,349	10,941	10,780	11,318	12,077	11,109	9,595	8,425	7,755
Water supply; sewerage, waste management and remediation activities (36-39)	689	736	720	913	1,203	1,356	1,340	1,625	1,843	1,844	1,787
Construction (41-43)	233	83	169	216	304	282	303	359	394	518	507

Services (45-96)	14,598	15,170	15,172	15,637	15,919	16,864	20,002	22,407	23,830	24,148	12,383

Households	15,552	14,308	13,707	13,608	12,944	13,341	13,613	13,019	13,348	13,031	12,246

Total Residence Principle Greenhouse Gas Emissions	69,594	66,258	67,564	67,752	67,553	70,365	75,266	77,332	78,810	76,741	63,401

plus Non-resident Activity in Ireland	1,056	1,067	885	1,001	1,086	1,574	1,500	839	906	1,091	531
less Irish Resident Activity Abroad	8,702	9,582	9,685	10,203	10,633	11,461	14,052	16,104	17,365	17,976	6,216

Total Territorial Principle Greenhouse Gas Emissions	61,948	57,743	58,765	58,550	58,006	60,477	62,715	62,067	62,352	59,855	57,716

Open in Excel: Environmental Accounts Air Emissions 2020 Table 1 (XLS 15KB)

Table 2 Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Emissions

Table 2 Carbon Dioxide (CO₂) Emissions										'000 tonnes C0₂
NACE Rev. 2	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing (01-03)	1,325	1,181	1,006	1,215	1,033	1,032	1,097	1,033	1,219	1,097	1,149

Industry (05-43)	19,115	17,002	18,185	17,084	17,625	18,475	19,356	18,912	17,918	16,710	15,788
Mining and quarrying (05-09)	55	51	48	57	55	52	55	55	57	115	92
Food products, beverages and tobacco products (10-12)	950	853	976	1,003	1,005	1,074	1,106	1,173	1,216	1,151	1,167
Textiles, wearing apparel and leather products (13-15)	22	16	15	19	38	33	42	44	27	33	33
Wood and paper products and printing (16-18)	52	52	53	66	94	51	61	70	67	61	60
Coke and refined petroleum products (19)	439	380	419	418	378	432	410	409	399	337	370
Chemicals and chemical products (20)	206	246	250	229	239	241	225	242	256	235	222
Basic pharmaceutical products and pharmaceutical preparations (21)	243	182	196	187	187	195	203	192	203	236	237
Rubber and plastic products and other non-metallic mineral products (22-23)	2,190	1,977	2,285	2,273	2,851	3,089	3,252	3,322	3,496	3,379	3,183
Basic metals and fabricated metal products, except machinery and equipment (24-25)	1,628	1,418	1,275	1,394	1,372	1,360	1,332	1,377	1,397	1,410	1,383
Computer, electronic and optical products (26)	38	45	31	42	36	48	49	43	40	42	42
Electrical equipment (27)	11	17	10	14	17	7	8	8	10	9	9
Machinery and equipment not elsewhere classified (28)	26	45	35	44	45	40	40	55	57	55	54
Transport equipment (29-30)	8	10	10	15	9	6	9	7	8	10	9
Furniture; other manufacturing; repair and installation of machinery and equipment (31-33)	90	111	105	163	141	124	142	121	142	127	125
Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply (35)	12,774	11,429	12,160	10,765	10,591	11,130	11,871	10,900	9,385	8,220	7,559
Water supply; sewerage, waste management and remediation activities (36-39)	153	90	157	185	274	320	258	542	773	786	748
Construction (41-43)	230	79	161	210	293	273	293	349	384	503	494

Services (45-96)	14,250	14,769	14,788	15,262	15,525	16,470	19,588	22,008	23,502	23,840	12,079

Households	14,763	13,634	13,058	12,939	12,236	12,660	12,908	12,400	12,844	12,579	11,825

Total Residence Principle Carbon Dioxide Emissions	49,454	46,586	47,037	46,501	46,419	48,638	52,949	54,352	55,483	54,226	40,840

plus Non-resident Activity in Ireland	1,028	1,038	861	973	1,055	1,530	1,460	816	883	1,065	518
less Irish Resident Activity Abroad	8,689	9,568	9,671	10,192	10,621	11,450	14,040	16,091	17,354	17,965	6,205

Total Territorial Principle Carbon Dioxide Emissions	41,794	38,056	38,227	37,282	36,853	38,718	40,370	39,078	39,012	37,326	35,153

Open in Excel: Environmental Accounts Air Emissions 2020 Table 2 (XLS 15KB)

Table 3 Nitrous Oxide (N2O) Emissions

Table 4 Methane (CH4) Emissions

Table 5 Fluorinated Gas (HFC, PFC, SF6, NF3) Emissions

Table 6 Sulphur Oxide (SOx) Emissions

Table 7 Nitrogen Oxide (NOx) Emissions

Table 8 Ammonia (NH3) Emissions

Table 9 Non-Methane Volatile Organic Compound (NMVOC) Emissions

Table 10 Carbon Monoxide (CO) Emissions

Table 11 Particulate Matter (PM2.5) Emissions

Table 12 Particulate Matter (PM10) Emissions

Table 13 Residence Principle Adjustment by Type of Transport

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Table 5 Fluorinated Gas (HFC, PFC, SF₆, NF₃) Emissions									'000 tonnes CO₂ equivalent
NACE Rev. 2	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing (01-03)	0.8	1.1	0.8	0.7	0.6	1.1	0.6	0.7	0.7	0.6	0.6

Industry (05-43)	359.0	415.9	433.3	466.1	454.3	484.6	543.2	557.9	448.9	489.1	395.2

Services (45-96)	244.2	296.5	278.7	267.8	286.5	288.7	296.9	276.3	204.0	186.0	181.4

Households	514.9	422.3	403.1	413.7	472.2	436.4	456.3	397.5	269.8	234.0	206.1

Total Residence Principle Fluorinated Gas Emissions	1,118.8	1,135.9	1,115.8	1,148.4	1,213.7	1,210.6	1,297.0	1,232.4	923.4	909.8	783.3

plus Non-resident Activity in Ireland	18.3	19.0	16.0	17.7	19.2	26.4	23.9	12.8	12.2	12.8	6.5
less Irish Resident Activity Abroad	9.1	9.0	9.0	6.9	7.2	7.0	7.3	7.3	5.7	5.5	5.5

Total Territorial Principle Fluorinated Gas Emissions	1,128.0	1,145.8	1,122.8	1,159.2	1,225.6	1,230.1	1,313.6	1,237.8	929.9	917.1	784.3

Table 7 Nitrogen Oxide (NOx) Emissions						'000 tonnes NO₂ equivalent
NACE Rev. 2	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing (01-03)	39.0	35.2	35.9	37.6	35.6	35.4	36.2	38.2	40.7	38.0	38.0

Industry (05-43)	24.0	17.9	22.1	21.6	21.9	23.4	21.9	21.0	19.3	17.4	16.4
Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply (35)	12.1	8.5	10.7	9.2	8.0	9.9	8.4	8.3	6.9	6.1	5.7
Other Industry	11.9	9.4	11.4	12.3	13.9	13.5	13.5	12.7	12.5	11.3	10.7

Services (45-96)	32.3	29.4	28.0	26.5	26.4	25.6	27.7	28.2	27.6	25.3	23.4

Households	22.5	22.3	22.3	23.1	23.4	23.6	23.1	22.0	21.8	20.3	16.9

Total Residence Principle Nitrogen Oxide Emissions	117.8	104.8	108.3	108.6	107.3	108.1	108.8	109.4	109.4	100.9	94.7

plus Non-resident Activity in Ireland	6.0	5.9	4.7	5.3	5.5	7.3	6.6	3.5	3.5	3.7	1.7
less Irish Resident Activity Abroad	3.1	2.9	2.7	2.1	2.1	2.0	2.0	2.0	1.6	1.6	1.4

Total Territorial Principle Nitrogen Oxide Emissions	120.7	107.8	110.2	111.8	110.6	113.4	113.4	110.9	111.3	103.1	95.0

Table 9 Non-Methane Volatile Organic Compound (NMVOC) Emissions					'000 tonnes NMVOC
NACE Rev. 2	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing (01-03)	42.7	42.5	43.2	43.7	44.4	44.8	46.3	46.7	45.9	45.9	46.4

Industry (05-43)	35.8	34.8	36.4	37.3	35.3	36.5	37.4	43.0	43.7	44.6	40.4

Services (45-96)	2.4	2.2	2.0	1.9	1.8	1.8	1.8	1.7	1.7	1.7	1.5

Households	31.9	30.2	29.4	29.9	28.3	27.9	27.6	25.2	25.5	24.3	24.4

Total Residence Principle NMVOC Emissions	112.9	109.7	111.0	112.8	109.8	110.9	113.1	116.6	116.9	116.6	112.6

plus Non-resident Activity in Ireland	0.3	0.3	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.3	0.2	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.0
less Irish Resident Activity Abroad	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0

Total Territorial Principle NMVOC Emissions	113.1	109.9	111.1	112.9	110.0	111.2	113.3	116.7	116.9	116.6	112.6

Table 10 Carbon Monoxide (CO) Emissions						'000 tonnes CO
NACE Rev. 2	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing (01-03)	2.1	1.9	1.8	1.6	1.4	1.3	1.3	1.3	1.4	1.3	1.3

Industry (05-43)	26.8	25.4	27.3	24.4	25.9	27.9	28.3	26.3	21.1	15.5	16.1
Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply (35)	16.4	16.1	18.9	16.1	15.6	17.9	18.3	15.3	10.4	6.1	6.6
Other industry	10.4	9.3	8.4	8.3	10.3	10.1	10.0	11.0	10.7	9.5	9.4

Services (45-96)	8.8	7.9	7.4	7.1	6.9	6.6	6.9	6.7	6.6	6.1	4.8

Households	178.4	162.8	155.3	157.6	142.5	140.9	137.8	115.2	116.2	103.3	99.6

Total Residence Principle Carbon Monoxide Emissions	216.2	198.0	191.8	190.7	176.6	176.7	174.3	149.5	145.3	126.3	121.8

plus Non-resident Activity in Ireland	2.0	1.8	1.3	1.2	1.5	2.4	1.5	0.6	0.6	0.7	0.3
less Irish Resident Activity Abroad	0.7	0.7	0.6	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.2

Total Territorial Principle Carbon Monoxide Emissions	217.5	199.1	192.5	191.5	177.7	178.7	175.4	149.8	145.6	126.7	121.8

Environmental Accounts Air Emissions 2020