Survey: Fossil fuel consumption in Estonian transport continues to increase

TALLINN – Due to oil shale energy, Estonia's per capita greenhouse gas emissions have historically been high, but thanks to the increasing use of renewable energy, emissions have decreased. However, fossil fuel consumption in the transport sector continues to rise.

The Estonian Environmental Research Center, as the coordinator of Estonia's national greenhouse gas reporting, has completed its initial approximate emissions estimates for 2024. These figures show that the emissions from production units belonging to the emissions trading system, meaning large-scale energy production, decreased by 14.5 percent year on year, from 5.3 million tons of CO2 equivalent to 4.5 million. At the same time, total  emissions decreased less overall, as emissions increased in several other sectors, primarily in road transport and industry.

"Greenhouse gas emissions reflect changes taking place in society -- when fossil fuel prices are lower, their use increases and therefore the resulting emissions are higher. This is what happened with natural gas -- in 2022 gas consumption fell sharply due to rising prices, but when the average market price of natural gas dropped, consumption increased again," said Cris-Tiina Pärn, coordinator of the greenhouse gas inventory.

A major concern in Estonia is growing emissions from road transport, which, according to preliminary estimates, increased by nearly 7 percent in a year. The rise in emissions comes from more kilometers being driven, which is not offset by vehicles becoming more fuel-efficient.

"The highest emissions in the transport sector largely originate from Harju County, which has the highest traffic load. Over half of the trips made in Tallinn are under 10 kilometers. All trips pollute the air, generate noise, and increase greenhouse gas emissions. However, short trips can easily be replaced with less environmentally harmful modes of transport. To mitigate the impact of climate change, everyone can contribute through their choices," said Pärn.

Final and verified greenhouse gas emission data for 2024 will be available by March 2026. The current preliminary data was submitted to the European Commission as input for EU-wide emission target information. The preliminary data does not include figures from the land use sector.