Vol. 548 No. 5
336 Mr. J. O'Keeffe asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government if Ireland is one of the highest polluters in Europe in terms of CO2 emissions per person; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5595/02]
I refer to the reply to Question No. 490 of 6 November 2001, which indicates that Irish per capita carbon dioxide emissions are above, but close to, the average for the EU. The European Environment Agency report, European Community and Member State Greenhouse Gas Emission Trends, 1990-1999 which is available at http://reports. eea.eu.int/topicreport200110/en – indicates that Ireland has the highest per capita emissions of total greenhouse gases for the EU in 1999. This is calculated on a global warming potential, GWP, basis, and does not include emissions and sequestration from the land use change and forestry sector.
The difference between Ireland's position when comparing CO2 with total greenhouse gas emissions arises mainly from the disproportionate contribution to total emissions of methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) from the agriculture sector to total emissions from Ireland compared to other EU countries. Both of these gases have a significantly higher GWP than CO2, which is the base gas for comparing the contribution to global warming of all greenhouse gases. The GWP of CO2 is 1, for CH4 is 21 and for N2O is 310.
