CO2 emission changes in Lithuanian transport sector over 1996–2007

Abstract

Climate change and growing CO2 emission are wildly discussed issue. During transitional economic downturn period (1990–1995) CO2 emission in Lithuania has decreased significantly. However, CO2 emission is growing recently in Lithuania and this growth could be attributed to transport which is one of the main sectors contributing to the CO2 emission. The paper aims to examine the dynamics of CO2 emission and related indicators in transport sector in Lithuania during the economy growth period 1996–2007. Paper analyses main trends in transport CO2 emission, gross domestic product (GDP), final energy consumption, and CO2 intensity in Lithuania. Over 1996–2007 period GDP created in Lithuanian transport sector was on steady increase (17 % annually), followed by final energy consumption growth and respectively increased CO2 emission. Over the growth period CO2 emission of transport sector have increased 1.5 times and amounted to 15.9 million tons in 2007. In 2007 transport sector was responsible for 21 % of all CO2 emission with the biggest share of road transport (95 %) within the sector. Despite growing overall CO2 emission, amount of CO2 per unit of GDP (CO2 intensity) in transport sector was on decreasing trend and since 1996 have decreased 2.3 times. As Lithuanian National Strategy for Sustainable Development aims to increase overall ecoefficiency and to reach EU-15 level of eco-efficiency on average, comparative analysis with EU-15 was conducted. It revealed achieved progress towards foreseen goals. If in 1996 Lithuania CO2 intensity in transport sector was 30 % higher than EU-15, in 2007 CO2 intensity of Lithuanian transport converged to that of EU-15 and accounted to 480 CO2 t/1000 PPS (purchasing power standard). These positive changes were induced by high rate of GDP growth in transport sector, implementation of new technologies and more efficient energy consumption in transport sector.