Total greenhouse gas emissions (without LULUCF)

From 1990 to 2023, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduced considerably, by around 46% (see graph). The individual GHGs contributed to this development to varying degrees. Among direct GHG emissions, emissions of those gases that predominate in terms of quantity reduced markedly, with the largest reductions occurring for methane.

The main reasons for these developments are as follows:

• the transition from the use of solid fuels to the use of liquid and gaseous fuels (i.e. from coal and lignite to natural gas for stationary combustion) in the period since 1990;
• growing use of renewable energy and increasing, related, use of substitutes for fossil fuels;
• increased plant (installation) efficiencies;
• changes in animal-housing methods and reductions in livestock populations;
• the fulfilment of legal regulations in the waste management sector.

Releases of carbon dioxide (CO2) – the great majority of which are caused by stationary and mobile combustion processes – predominate in overall GHG emissions. Due to a disproportionately large decrease in emissions of other GHGs, the proportion of total GHGs attributable to CO2 emissions has increased since 1990. All other GHGs together account for only slightly more than one tenth of GHG emissions.