Spain Fossil-Fuel CO₂ Emissions

Graphics    Digital Data

Trends

Based on 2006 fossil-fuel CO₂ emission estimates, Spain ranks as the eighteenth highest national emitter of CO₂ with 96 million metric tons of carbon. Liquid fuels have been the dominant source of CO₂ from Spain since 1966, contributing 52% of emissions in 2006 after averaging almost 70% in the mid-1970s. Coal was the dominant CO₂ source before 1966 and still contributed 20% in 2006, although emissions from coal have changed little since the 1980s. Emissions from natural gas use have grown twenty-fold since the late 1970s and now result in a release from Spain of 19 million metric tons of carbon. Annual per capita emissions remain low, in contrast with those of most other Western European nations, at a rate of 2.18 metric tons of carbon.