The indicator represents, over the period 1990-2023, the trend of greenhouse gas emissions in Italy per capita and relative to GDP. A decrease is observed for both, accentuated by the growth of the population and GDP, which highlights a decoupling between drivers and pressures.

The indicator consists of the share of greenhouse gas emissions generated by installations covered under the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS), established by Directive 2003/87/EC, as well as emissions from all sectors not included in the ETS—namely small- and medium-scale industry, transport, residential and commercial buildings, agriculture, and waste. These non-ETS emissions were regulated under the Effort Sharing Decision (Decision No. 406/2009/EC) up to 2020 and, from 2021 onward, under the Effort Sharing Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2018/842).In 2020, emissions from the non-ETS sectors were below the national annual target of 37 MtCO₂eq. However, from 2021 onwards, emissions have not aligned with the annual reduction targets set under the Effort Sharing Regulation.