The emission of greenhouse gases (GHG) per person employed has been, since 2010, on a continuous decline in the European Union, which is due to a combination of decreasing GHG emissions and increasing employment numbers, according to data on the European Green Deal released by Eurostat, the EU’s statistical office.
Cyprus consistently remains above the EU average in that same time period, with the exception of 2013.
In 2020, every employed person in the EU produced 13.6 tonnes of GHG emissions, the lowest value on record and 4.4 tonnes less than in 2010 when the output per person was at 18.0 tonnes.
The greenhouse gas emissions intensity of employment measures the greenhouse gases emitted by the entire national economy per person employed.
In 2020, Cyprus emitted 15.6 tonnes per person employed. Cyprus has been consistently over the EU average since 2008, when the emissions per person where at 21.7 tonnes (18.8 tonnes in the EU).
Over the next few years, the GHG intensity of employment in Cyprus was closer to the EU average (17.6 tonnes in 2012 compared with 17.4 on average in the EU) and was lower than the average in 2013 (16.9 tonnes in Cyprus compared with 17.0 tonnes in the EU).
The following years, leading up to and including 2013, the figure returned to being over the EU average.
Among the rest of the member states, Denmark (24.7 tonnes of GHG per person employed), Ireland (23.2 t GHG per person employed) and Poland (20.9 t GHG) emitted the highest number of GHG per employed person in 2020.
In contrast, Sweden (8.1 t GHG per person employed) and Malta (7.2 t GHG per person employed) emitted the least.
Source: Cyprus News Agency