Data / Rankings / Greenhouse gas emissions from waste / EU countries

EU countries by greenhouse gas emissions from waste

Italy had the highest greenhouse gas emissions from waste of 27 EU countries in 2014, at 20.23 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent. Luxembourg had the lowest, at 0.12 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent. The median was 2.09 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent and the figure for the European Union (27) was 124.41 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent. Source: Eurostat, European Commission.

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Highest20.23Italy
Lowest0.12Luxembourg
Median2.0927 EU countries
European Union (27)124.41History

Map of EU countries, 2014

Austria: 1.91 million tonnes of CO2 equivalentBelgium: 1.92 million tonnes of CO2 equivalentBulgaria: 3.63 million tonnes of CO2 equivalentCyprus: 0.62 million tonnes of CO2 equivalentCzechia: 5.19 million tonnes of CO2 equivalentGermany: 9.06 million tonnes of CO2 equivalentDenmark: 0.8 million tonnes of CO2 equivalentEstonia: 0.41 million tonnes of CO2 equivalentSpain: 18.08 million tonnes of CO2 equivalentFinland: 2.39 million tonnes of CO2 equivalentFrance: 18.94 million tonnes of CO2 equivalentGreece: 5.04 million tonnes of CO2 equivalentCroatia: 2.09 million tonnes of CO2 equivalentHungary: 4.4 million tonnes of CO2 equivalentIreland: 0.95 million tonnes of CO2 equivalentItaly: 20.23 million tonnes of CO2 equivalentLithuania: 1.02 million tonnes of CO2 equivalentLuxembourg: 0.12 million tonnes of CO2 equivalentLatvia: 0.65 million tonnes of CO2 equivalentMalta: 0.14 million tonnes of CO2 equivalentNetherlands: 4.42 million tonnes of CO2 equivalentPoland: 6.36 million tonnes of CO2 equivalentPortugal: 5.71 million tonnes of CO2 equivalentRomania: 6.38 million tonnes of CO2 equivalentSweden: 1.77 million tonnes of CO2 equivalentSlovenia: 0.53 million tonnes of CO2 equivalentSlovakia: 1.64 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent
  • Under 0.7
  • 0.7 to 1.8
  • 1.8 to 4.1
  • 4.1 to 6.2
  • 6.2 and over
million tonnes of CO2 equivalent, 2014. Source: European Environment Agency greenhouse gas inventory (via Eurostat), Greenhouse gas emissions by source sector, waste management (CRF 5), million tonnes of CO2 equivalent (env_air_gge, source: EEA). Boundaries: Natural Earth (public domain).

All EU countries, 2014

Italy: 20.23 million tonnes of CO2 equivalentItaly20.23France: 18.94 million tonnes of CO2 equivalentFrance18.94Spain: 18.08 million tonnes of CO2 equivalentSpain18.08Germany: 9.06 million tonnes of CO2 equivalentGermany9.06Romania: 6.38 million tonnes of CO2 equivalentRomania6.38Poland: 6.36 million tonnes of CO2 equivalentPoland6.36Portugal: 5.71 million tonnes of CO2 equivalentPortugal5.71Czechia: 5.19 million tonnes of CO2 equivalentCzechia5.19Greece: 5.04 million tonnes of CO2 equivalentGreece5.04Netherlands: 4.42 million tonnes of CO2 equivalentNetherlands4.42Hungary: 4.4 million tonnes of CO2 equivalentHungary4.4Bulgaria: 3.63 million tonnes of CO2 equivalentBulgaria3.63Finland: 2.39 million tonnes of CO2 equivalentFinland2.39Croatia: 2.09 million tonnes of CO2 equivalentCroatia2.09Belgium: 1.92 million tonnes of CO2 equivalentBelgium1.92Austria: 1.91 million tonnes of CO2 equivalentAustria1.91Sweden: 1.77 million tonnes of CO2 equivalentSweden1.77Slovakia: 1.64 million tonnes of CO2 equivalentSlovakia1.64Lithuania: 1.02 million tonnes of CO2 equivalentLithuania1.02Ireland: 0.95 million tonnes of CO2 equivalentIreland0.95Denmark: 0.8 million tonnes of CO2 equivalentDenmark0.8Latvia: 0.65 million tonnes of CO2 equivalentLatvia0.65Cyprus: 0.62 million tonnes of CO2 equivalentCyprus0.62Slovenia: 0.53 million tonnes of CO2 equivalentSlovenia0.53Estonia: 0.41 million tonnes of CO2 equivalentEstonia0.41Malta: 0.14 million tonnes of CO2 equivalentMalta0.14Luxembourg: 0.12 million tonnes of CO2 equivalentLuxembourg0.12Italy: 20.23 million tonnes of CO2 equivalentItaly20.23France: 18.94 million tonnes of CO2 equivalentFrance18.94Spain: 18.08 million tonnes of CO2 equivalentSpain18.08Germany: 9.06 million tonnes of CO2 equivalentGermany9.06Romania: 6.38 million tonnes of CO2 equivalentRomania6.38Poland: 6.36 million tonnes of CO2 equivalentPoland6.36Portugal: 5.71 million tonnes of CO2 equivalentPortugal5.71Czechia: 5.19 million tonnes of CO2 equivalentCzechia5.19Greece: 5.04 million tonnes of CO2 equivalentGreece5.04Netherlands: 4.42 million tonnes of CO2 equivalentNetherlands4.42Hungary: 4.4 million tonnes of CO2 equivalentHungary4.4Bulgaria: 3.63 million tonnes of CO2 equivalentBulgaria3.63Finland: 2.39 million tonnes of CO2 equivalentFinland2.39Croatia: 2.09 million tonnes of CO2 equivalentCroatia2.09Belgium: 1.92 million tonnes of CO2 equivalentBelgium1.92Austria: 1.91 million tonnes of CO2 equivalentAustria1.91Sweden: 1.77 million tonnes of CO2 equivalentSweden1.77Slovakia: 1.64 million tonnes of CO2 equivalentSlovakia1.64Lithuania: 1.02 million tonnes of CO2 equivalentLithuania1.02Ireland: 0.95 million tonnes of CO2 equivalentIreland0.95Denmark: 0.8 million tonnes of CO2 equivalentDenmark0.8Latvia: 0.65 million tonnes of CO2 equivalentLatvia0.65Cyprus: 0.62 million tonnes of CO2 equivalentCyprus0.62Slovenia: 0.53 million tonnes of CO2 equivalentSlovenia0.53Estonia: 0.41 million tonnes of CO2 equivalentEstonia0.41Malta: 0.14 million tonnes of CO2 equivalentMalta0.14Luxembourg: 0.12 million tonnes of CO2 equivalentLuxembourg0.12
million tonnes of CO2 equivalent. Source: European Environment Agency greenhouse gas inventory (via Eurostat), Greenhouse gas emissions by source sector, waste management (CRF 5), million tonnes of CO2 equivalent (env_air_gge, source: EEA). Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

RankEU countries2014
million tonnes of CO2 equivalent		Change on 2013
1Italy20.23-1%
2France18.94-3.9%
3Spain18.08-6.1%
4Germany9.06-6.5%
5Romania6.38-0.5%
6Poland6.36-3.5%
7Portugal5.71-1.7%
8Czechia5.19-0.4%
9Greece5.04+1.6%
10Netherlands4.42-5.6%
11Hungary4.4-2%
12Bulgaria3.63-3%
13Finland2.39-5.9%
14Croatia2.09+2.3%
15Belgium1.92-8.8%
16Austria1.91-6.2%
17Sweden1.77-7.3%
18Slovakia1.64-0.7%
19Lithuania1.02-4.4%
20Ireland0.95+24.2%
21Denmark0.8+4.9%
22Latvia0.65-1.6%
23Cyprus0.62+1.8%
24Slovenia0.53-6.3%
25Estonia0.41-8.6%
26Malta0.14+12.6%
27Luxembourg0.12+0.8%

Other periods

About this ranking

Greenhouse gas emissions from waste management: landfills, composting, incineration without energy recovery and wastewater (UNFCCC category 5), in million tonnes of CO2 equivalent.

More on how it is measured
  • National inventory reported to the UNFCCC (and, for EU members, to the EU): the seven Kyoto gases weighted by their 100-year global warming potential.
  • Land use, land use change and forestry (LULUCF) and international aviation and shipping are not included.

Sectors follow the UNFCCC reporting categories, so they add up to the total except for indirect CO2, which is not allocated to a sector. Each annual submission recalculates the whole series back to 1990, so past values change between releases.

Every value in the ranking comes from the same publisher and the same period, so the EU countries are compared on one definition. Equal values share a rank.

How to cite

European Environment Agency (EEA), national greenhouse gas inventories reported under the EU Governance Regulation, as published by Eurostat. Greenhouse gas emissions by source sector, waste management (CRF 5), million tonnes of CO2 equivalent (env_air_gge, source: EEA). https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/env_air_gge/default/table. Retrieved 2026-10-12. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.

Citation styles

The publisher is the author. Invokely is named only as the place the figures were read, where a style asks for it.

APA 7

Eurostat, European Commission. (2026). Greenhouse gas emissions by source sector, waste management (CRF 5), million tonnes of CO2 equivalent (env_air_gge, source: EEA) (EU countries by greenhouse gas emissions from waste, 2014) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/env_air_gge/default/table

MLA 9

Greenhouse gas emissions by source sector, waste management (CRF 5), million tonnes of CO2 equivalent (env_air_gge, source: EEA), EU countries by greenhouse gas emissions from waste, 2014. Eurostat, European Commission, 2 June 2026, https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/env_air_gge/default/table. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/greenhouse-gas-emissions-waste/eu-countries?period=2014. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

Eurostat, European Commission. 2026. Greenhouse gas emissions by source sector, waste management (CRF 5), million tonnes of CO2 equivalent (env_air_gge, source: EEA). EU countries by greenhouse gas emissions from waste, 2014. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/env_air_gge/default/table. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/greenhouse-gas-emissions-waste/eu-countries?period=2014.

Harvard

Eurostat, European Commission (2026) Greenhouse gas emissions by source sector, waste management (CRF 5), million tonnes of CO2 equivalent (env_air_gge, source: EEA), EU countries by greenhouse gas emissions from waste, 2014 [Dataset]. Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/env_air_gge/default/table, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/greenhouse-gas-emissions-waste/eu-countries?period=2014 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{eurostat_eu_countries_by_greenhouse_2014,
  author = {{Eurostat, European Commission}},
  title = {{Greenhouse gas emissions by source sector, waste management (CRF 5), million tonnes of CO2 equivalent (env\_air\_gge, source: EEA): EU countries by greenhouse gas emissions from waste, 2014}},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/env_air_gge/default/table},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/greenhouse-gas-emissions-waste/eu-countries?period=2014. Publisher attribution: European Environment Agency (EEA), national greenhouse gas inventories reported under the EU Governance Regulation, as published by Eurostat. Greenhouse gas emissions by source sector, waste management (CRF 5), million tonnes of CO2 equivalent (env\_air\_gge, source: EEA). https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/env\_air\_gge/default/table. Retrieved 2026-10-12. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.},
}
RIS
TY  - DATA
AU  - Eurostat, European Commission
TI  - Greenhouse gas emissions by source sector, waste management (CRF 5), million tonnes of CO2 equivalent (env_air_gge, source: EEA): EU countries by greenhouse gas emissions from waste, 2014
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/06/02
PB  - Eurostat, European Commission
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/env_air_gge/default/table
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/greenhouse-gas-emissions-waste/eu-countries?period=2014
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/greenhouse-gas-emissions-waste/eu-countries?period=2014.
N1  - Publisher attribution: European Environment Agency (EEA), national greenhouse gas inventories reported under the EU Governance Regulation, as published by Eurostat. Greenhouse gas emissions by source sector, waste management (CRF 5), million tonnes of CO2 equivalent (env_air_gge, source: EEA). https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/env_air_gge/default/table. Retrieved 2026-10-12. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
ER  -
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Questions

Which EU country has the highest greenhouse gas emissions from waste?

Italy, with 20.23 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent in 2014, according to Eurostat, European Commission.

Which EU country has the lowest greenhouse gas emissions from waste?

Luxembourg, with 0.12 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent in 2014.

Where does this ranking come from?

Every value comes from one source and one period, so the places are comparable: Eurostat, European Commission, Greenhouse gas emissions by source sector, waste management (CRF 5), million tonnes of CO2 equivalent (env_air_gge, source: EEA). Retrieved 2026-10-12.

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