Approximated EU greenhouse gas inventory for 2024- reporting decreased HFC emissions

HFCs are estimated to account for 1.9% of EU27 greenhouse gas emissions in 2024. From 2023 to 2024, HFC estimated emissions reduced by about 4.7%. The total estimated GHG emissions for 2024 are 2,827 million tonnes CO₂e, a decrease of 80 million (-2.8%) tonnes from 2023. The approximated GHG inventory is an early estimate of the GHG emissions for 2024, the preceding year. The scope of the proxy estimates covers total GHG emissions, for all gases, sectors, and Member States, as reported under the UNFCCC including the land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF) sector, indirect CO₂ and international aviation.

For the EU27, in 2024 estimated emissions (as CO₂e) from ‘product uses as ODS substitutes’ are reported as 54,267 ktonnes, with HFCs accounting for 54,192 ktonnes (99.9%) of this total.   Other emissions of fluorinated gases (HFCs, PFCs, SF₆, NF₃) occur for the chemical industry, metal industry, electronics industry and other product manufacture and use. In total F-gas emissions are estimated as 59,413 ktonnes, with HFCs accounting for 54,340 ktonnes (91.5%) of this total.

For 2023, the final UNFCCC inventory submission reported emissions from ‘product uses as ODS substitutes’ as 56,947 ktonnes. The estimated reduction from 2023 to 2024 is 4.7% (2680 ktonnes) which is almost completely due to HFC emissions reduction.  The sectoral difference for 2023 between proxy and final GHG inventories for emissions from ‘product uses as ODS substitutes’ shows good agreement. Final: 56,947 ktonnes, Proxy 57,257 ktonnes, a difference of 310 ktonnes, or about 0.5%.

Explanatory Note: The data reported here is from ETC CM Report 2025/03, Approximated EU greenhouse gas inventory Proxy GHG emission estimates for 2024.  The report appears to contain some errors relevant to HFC emissions, discussed here.  The data is extracted from these tables:

• Table 2-2 Summary table of approximated GHG emissions for 2024 for EU27 (total emissions including indirect CO₂).: This has total GHG emissions and HFC emissions from industrial processes and product use, but the data for Product uses as substitutes for ODS has a small discrepancy in the total emissions column. This is ignored for this item and is not significant.
• Table 2-5 Industrial Processes and Product Use emissions, change 2023-2024: Product uses as substitutes for ODS -2.7 million tonnes CO2e, -4.7%.
• Table 3-2 Difference per sector for year 2023 between proxy and final GHG inventories. This reports the final Inventory 2023 submission data, used to determine the estimated change to 2024.

However, although all the data is consistent with a decrease in HFC emissions as shown in Table 2-5 for emissions for Product uses as substitutes for ODS, Section 2.2.2. Industrial Processes and Product Use states “The subsector 2.F Product uses as substitutes for ODS saw emissions increase by 2.7 Mt CO₂ eq. (+4.7 %).” This apparent error has been reported, and acknowledged, but at the time of writing (16 November 2025) had not been corrected, report issued on 5 November 2025.