Main results
- The Spanish economy emitted 279.9 million tonnes of Greenhouse Gases in 2024, 0.2% less than in 2023. Households accounted for 22.9%.
- There has been a 32.4% reduction in Greenhouse Gas Emissions since 2008.
Environmental accounts. Air Emission Accounts
Preview year 2024
More information
The Air Emission Accounts record the emissions of resident economic units both inside and outside the economic territory.
In 2024, Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions decreased by 0.2% to 279.9 million tonnes of Carbon Dioxide equivalent (tCO2e). To compare emissions of different greenhouse gases, they are converted to their Carbon Dioxide equivalent by multiplying the mass of the gas by its global warming potential.
Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Million tonnes of Carbon Dioxide equivalent (tCO2e)
From 2008 (first year of the accounting series) to 2024, the decrease in GHG Emissions was 32.4%.
There are different types of GHG. The main ones, due to their level of emissions, are Carbon Dioxide (CO2), Methane (CH4) and Nitrous Oxide (N2O).
Carbon Dioxide emissions to the atmosphere decreased by 0.5% in 2024, and those of Methane by 0.8%. On the contrary, those of Nitrous Oxide increased by 2.2%.
Greenhouse Gas Emissions by type of gas. 2024 Progress
Thousand tonnes of Carbon Dioxide equivalent (tCO2e)
Emissions by branches of activity and households
In 2024, Households emitted 22.9% of total GHG Emissions, Manufacturing 23.8% and Agriculture, livestock, forestry and fishing 16.6%.
The only branch of activity where GHG emissions decreased was Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply (some 10.3%). The largest increase was registered in Transport and storage services (4.8%). Households increased their GHG emissions by 0.6%.
Greenhouse Gas Emissions by branches of activity and households
Thousand tonnes of Carbon Dioxide equivalent (tCO2e)
Emissions by type of gas
The highest amounts of Carbon Dioxide emitted in 2024 corresponded to the Manufacturing (62.8 million tonnes), Households (61.9 million) and Transportation and storage services (38.0 million).
Meanwhile, Agriculture, livestock, forestry and fishing emitted the highest amounts of Methane (62.9% of the total) and Nitrous Oxide (73.7%).
Greenhouse Gas Emissions by type of gas, branches of activity and households. 2024 Progress
Thousand tonnes of Carbon Dioxide equivalent (tCO2e)
Other atmospheric emissions. 2023
Other environmental problems that cause harmful effects on the environment and health are acidifying gases, tropospheric ozone precursor gases and particulates (fine dust).
Tropospheric ozone precursor gases, which include Non-Methane Volatile Organic Compounds (NMVOC), Nitrogen Oxides (NOx), Methane (CH4) and Carbon Monoxide (CO) measured in equivalent tonnes of NMVOCs, decreased by 3.2%.
Acidifying gases, which include Sulphur Oxides (SOx), Nitrogen Oxides (NOx) and Ammonia (NH3) measured in equivalent tonnes of Sulphur Dioxide (tSO2e) depending on their degree of acidification, fell by 2.2% in 2023. On the other hand, emissions of particles with an aerodynamic diameter of less than 2.5 microns decreased by 0.8%.
Emissions of atmospheric pollutants. 2023
Thousands of tonnes
The highest emissions of ozone precursor gases corresponded to Agriculture, livestock, forestry and fishing (431.7 thousand tonnes of equivalent NMVOC), Manufacturing (354.6) and Households (323.9).
On the other hand, Agriculture, forestry and fishing emitted the highest amounts of acidifying gases (934.7 thousand tonnes of tSO2e), followed by Manufacturing (147.1 thousand tonnes).
Households (42.0 thousand tonnes) and Agriculture, livestock, forestry and fishing (40.7 thousand tonnes) accounted for the highest emissions of particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter of less than 2.5 microns (PM2.5).
Data revisions and updates
The data published today is provisional and will be revised when next year's data is released. All results of this operation are available on INEbase.
Methodological note
The objective of the Environmental Accounts (EA) is to integrate environmental information into the central system of National Accounts in a coherent way. They include a set of satellite accounts, which are transmitted annually, compiled using the accounting formats applicable to the different sectoral and territorial areas, with a major presence of physical data. They display the interactions among the economy, households and environmental factors.
The Air Emissions Accounts present data regarding the polluting emissions into the atmosphere, in a way that is compatible with the National Accounts System, registering the emitting agents, broken down by branch of economic activity and households as final consumers.
The estimates of the Air Emissions Accounts are made from the National Inventories of Emissions to the Atmosphere, prepared by the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, which use the IPCC and EMEP/EEA methodology, with the NFR/CRF nomenclature (Nomenclature for Reporting/Common Reporting Format), which groups emissions into sectors, categories and subcategories.
The Emissions Account is constructed from a set of aggregated indicators on the origin and destination of pollutant emissions into the atmosphere, derived from a wide variety of statistical operations, each of which is subject to its own availability and revision schedule. This means that the estimates of the aggregates are subject to a revision process for the whole series of results to ensure that the estimation methods are kept up to date.
For more information, you can access the Standardised Methodological Report.
INE statistics are produced in accordance with the Code of Good Practice for European Statistics. More information on Quality at INE and Code of Best Practices.
For further information see
Official INE account on
@es_ine
Official INE account on
@es_ine
- All press releases at:
- www.ine.es/en/prensa/prensa_en.htm
- Press office:
- (+34) 91 583 93 63 / 94 08 – gprensa@ine.es
- Information area:
- (+34) 91 583 91 00 – www.ine.es/infoine/?L=1