Malta has again topped the EU table for increases in greenhouse gas emissions, with an almost 9% increase compared to last year.

This makes it one of only seven countries across the bloc that have not managed to cut emissions.

Data published in August shows that of these seven countries, four – Cyprus, Greece, Romania and Slovenia – had increases of under 2% mark.

Latvia, Lithuania and Malta saw their emissions rise by over 5%.

Most countries have slashed emissions, but Malta is lagging behind. Image: Eurostat

Eurostat’s data shows that Malta has struggled to cut its emissions over the past decade, consistently registering increases across almost all quarters since 2014.

The exception was an 18-month period between 2015 and mid-2016, when emissions were slashed by as much as a third, and the pandemic-stricken period of 2020.

Malta has topped the EU table in each quarter since March 2023, with the first quarter of last year being the last time that any other country in Europe increased its emissions at a higher rate.

The 8.8% registered in this latest data is a slight drop from the 9.7% scored at the end of last year, but is roughly in line with the growth in emissions throughout most of 2023.

894m tonnes of greenhouse gases in EU, down by 4%

Although emissions in Malta may be on the rise, the amount of greenhouse gases in circulation is dipping across the European bloc, shrinking by 4% since early 2023. In practice, this means a drop of almost 40m tonnes to  894m tonnes of greenhouse gases into Europe’s atmosphere.

Bulgaria has, by far, had the greatest success in slashing its emissions over the past year, cutting them by a hefty 15%. Several other countries, including Germany, Belgium and Finland all managed to cut their emissions by more than 5%.

The EU has made carbon emissions reduction one of its key milestones, aiming to reduce emissions by 55% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels, and eventually becoming carbon neutral by 2050.

Malta has historically struggled to match the pace of other EU countries, often finding itself towards the tail end of the race to meet carbon targets.