As world leaders have congregated in Glasgow for the COP26 to dicuss the fight against climate heating, our colleagues from 5 Minutes wanted to know if Luxembourg really is as bad as they say in terms of greenhouse gas emissions. And things aren’t as simple as that.
In 2019, the last year available at Eurostat, every Luxembourger contributed 20.3 tons of greenhouse gases. This is two and a half times the European average, and considerably more than its direct neighbours. Belgium emits an average of 10.6 tons per inhabitant, Germany 10.1 tons, and France only 6.8 tons, thanks to the high proportion of nuclear power in its energy production.
If we look at CO2 emissions alone, Luxembourg is by far the worst offender in Europe, with 15.33 tons of CO2 per capita in 2018 (Source: World Bank). On a global scale, Luxembourg is the 12th biggest CO2 per capita, just behind the US (Source: Wikipedia)
Another shameful ranking where the Grand-Duchy stands out is the Overshoot Day. Calculated by the NGO Global Footprint Network, it measures energy consumption compared with available resources every year. Luxembourg is in second place globally, right after Qatar. This year, the country used up the resources it had available for the year on 15 February. If every country lived like Luxembourg, we would need eight earths.
But there is cause for hope. For one thing, Luxembourg is in a very unusual situation. Most of these studies are based on the numbers of residents, while our cross-border workers also contribute to emissions and pollution, distorting the results.
Additionally, CO2 emissions per capita have decreased enormously over the past 50 years (40.53 tons in 1970 vs 15.33 in 2018).
Lastly, the country is putting a lot of work into reducing its carbon footprint, with measures such as free public trasnport, subsidies for energy efficient renovations, the use of renewable energies and zero emission vehicles, fuel taxes and more.
In 2020, the greenhouse gas emissions attributed to Luxembourg were at 7.86 million tons of CO2, which is a 22% drop from 2005. While Covid will have played a role, this is still a remarkable result considering the population increased by 35% over the same period!
Luxembourg is aiming for a 55% decrease in its greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, and for climate neutrality by 2050 at the latest.
