Panel 1
Daniela Romano
The indicator represents the historical series of national greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 to 2022, broken down by sector. The data analysis shows a significant reduction in emissions in 2022 compared to 1990 (-21%), which can be explained by the economic recession that has slowed consumption in recent years, as well as by an increased use of renewable energy, leading to a reduction in CO2 emissions from the energy sector (-20% compared to 1990).
Greenhouse gas emissions are largely due to carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, which, in terms of anthropogenic activities, are primarily linked to the use of fossil fuels. Methane (CH4) also contributes to the greenhouse effect, with emissions primarily related to livestock farming in agriculture, waste disposal, and leaks in the energy sector. Nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions mainly stem from agricultural activities and the energy sector, including transportation. The overall contribution of F-gases (HFCs, PFCs, SF6, NF3) to the greenhouse effect is lower than that of the aforementioned pollutants, and their presence is primarily due to industrial activities and refrigeration. Greenhouse gas emissions are calculated using the IPCC methodology and are all expressed in terms of CO2 equivalent tons by applying the Global Warming Potential (GWP) coefficients of each compound.
The indicator, which represents an estimate of national greenhouse gas emissions and their sectoral breakdown, aims to monitor the trend of emissions and the achievement of the targets set under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement.
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) 1992
Kyoto Protocol 1997
Law 65/1994 Law 120/2002
CIPE Resolution 123/2002
Law 316/2004 (conversion into law, with amendments, of Decree-Law No. 273/2004, containing urgent provisions for the application of Directive 2003/87/EC on the trading of greenhouse gas emission allowances within the European Community)
Legislative Decree No. 51/2008 "Effort Sharing" Decision 406/2009/EC
Legislative Decree No. 30/2013 EU Regulation 525/2013
Legislative Decree No. 111/2015 Paris Agreement 2015
Law 79/2016 EU Regulation 842/2018
EU Regulation 1999/2018 EU Directive 2001/2018
Italy ratified the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) with Law 65/1994, which was born out of the "Rio Earth Summit" of 1992. The Convention aims to stabilize the atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases at a level that would prevent human activities from altering the climate system. The Kyoto Protocol, signed in 1997 and ratified by Law 120/2002, which entered into force in 2005, was the first implementing instrument of the Convention. Italy committed to reducing its total national greenhouse gas emissions by 6.5% compared to 1990 levels, within the 2008-2012 period. In Italy, the monitoring of greenhouse gas emissions is ensured by ISPRA through Legislative Decree No. 51 of March 7, 2008, and Legislative Decree No. 30 of March 13, 2013, which provide for the establishment of the National System for the greenhouse gas inventory. For the years 2013-2020, the Doha Amendment to the Kyoto Protocol was adopted on December 8, 2012. The EU and its Member States committed to this second phase of the Kyoto Protocol and established a collective reduction of emissions by 20% below 1990 levels or other baseline years. A new global agreement was reached in Paris in December 2015, for the period after 2020. The agreement aims to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change by keeping the global temperature rise well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels, and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C; the Paris Agreement entered into force on November 4, 2016. Law 79/2016, ratifying and implementing the Doha Amendment to the Kyoto Protocol, defines a national strategy for low-carbon development, establishes the national system for policies and measures and projections, and sets out the monitoring and reporting of greenhouse gas emissions and information on climate change. At the European level, the reduction targets for overall greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 were set by EU Regulation 525/2013, relating to the EU Greenhouse Gas Monitoring Mechanism, and by the 2030 Climate and Energy Framework. Specifically, the European Union and its Member States, under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Kyoto Protocol, and subsequently under the Doha Amendment to the Kyoto Protocol of 2012 and the Paris Agreement of 2015, committed to reducing their collective emissions by 20% by 2020 and by 40% by 2030, compared to 1990 levels. In December 2020, the EU's binding climate target for 2030 was updated to a net internal reduction of greenhouse gas emissions (emissions net of removals) of at least 55% compared to 1990 levels by 2030.
Panel 2
ISPRA, 2022. Provincial Disaggregation of the National Greenhouse Gas Inventory. Reports 369 / 2022. Available at: http://www.isprambiente.gov.it/it/pubblicazioni/rapporti.
ISPRA, 2022. Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Italy at the End of the Second Period of the Kyoto Protocol: Reduction Targets and Energy Efficiency. Reports 362 / 2022.
ISPRA, 2024. Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Italy. Reduction Targets for 2030. Reports 399/2024.
IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, Revised 1996, IPCC, 1997.
IPCC/WMO/UNEP, Good Practice Guidance and Uncertainty Management in National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, IPCC, 2000.
IPCC, 2003. Good Practice Guidance for Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry. IPCC Technical Support Unit, Kanagawa, Japan.
IPCC, 2006. Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, Prepared by the National Greenhouse Gas Inventories Programme, Eggleston H.S., Buendia L., Miwa K., Ngara T., and Tanabe K. (eds). Published by IGES, Japan.
IPCC, 2014. 2013 Revised Supplementary Methods and Good Practice Guidance Arising from the Kyoto Protocol. Hiraishi, T., Krug, T., Tanabe, K., Srivastava, N., Baasansuren, J., Fukuda, M., and Troxler, T.G. (eds). Published by IPCC, Switzerland.
ISPRA, De Lauretis R., Romano D., Vitullo M., Arcarese C. National Greenhouse Gas Inventory System in Italy. Year 2019.
ISPRA, Italian Greenhouse Gas Inventory 1990-2022, National Inventory Report 2024.
ISPRA, Quality Assurance/Quality Control Plan for the Italian Emission Inventory, Year 2024.
Nessuna
Nessuna
Data quality assessment
ISPRA (Institute for Environmental Protection and Research)
http://emissioni.sina.isprambiente.it/inventario-nazionale/.
National
1990-2022
Indicator assessment
The estimation of emissions is carried out within the framework of the implementation of the atmospheric emission inventory through the use of appropriate emission factors and/or estimation models. In the graphs and tables, the greenhouse gas emissions are expressed as follows: CO2 in millions of tonnes (Mt); CH4 and N2O in thousands of tonnes (kt); F-gases in tonnes (t). Greenhouse gas emissions are then converted into terms of CO2 equivalent by multiplying the gas emissions by their Global Warming Potential (GWP), which is the global warming potential of each species relative to the potential of carbon dioxide.
Emissions of CO2, referred to as indirect CO2, are emissions of CO2 resulting from the oxidation of NMVOCs (Non-Methane Volatile Organic Compounds); these emissions were previously included under CO2 emissions in the solvent category. The national totals of greenhouse gases also include indirect CO2 emissions.
Regarding greenhouse gases, the reference methodology is that specified by the IPCC – Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, Revised 1996; Good Practice Guidance and Uncertainty Management in National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, IPCC 2000; Good Practice Guidance for Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry, IPCC 2003; 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories). For the description of the estimation methodology, reference is made to the National Inventory Report – NIR (National Inventory Report 1990-2022). (https://www.isprambiente.gov.it/it/pubblicazioni/rapporti/inventario-nazionale-emissioni-1990-2022-informative-inventory-report-2024).
Total greenhouse gas emissions, amounting to 413 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent in 2022, show a decrease of approximately 21% compared to 1990. While this exceeds the European target set for 2020, further efforts are required to meet the new targets for 2030 (Table 2 and Figure 1).
Total greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 to 2022 decreased from 522.4 to 413 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent. This trend is primarily driven by the energy sector, particularly CO2 emissions, which account for more than four-fifths of the total emissions throughout the entire period from 1990 to 2022 (82% of the total in 2022) (Table 3 and Figure 1). A decrease is also observed for methane and nitrous oxide, while F-gases show a significant increase since 1990 (Table 2).
Data
Table 1: National Carbon Dioxide Emissions, by Sector
ISPRA
The emission values have been updated in accordance with the annual update of the national emissions inventory.
Table 2: National Greenhouse Gas Emissions in CO2 Equivalent by Substance
ISPRA
LULUCF: Land Use, Land-Use Change, and Forestry
CO2: Carbon Dioxide
CH4: Methane
N2O: Nitrous Oxide
F-gas: Fluorinated Gases
The emission values have been updated in accordance with the annual update of the national emissions inventory.
Table 3: National Greenhouse Gas Emissions in CO2 Equivalent by Substance and Sector
ISPRA
The emission values have been updated in accordance with the annual update of the national emissions inventory.
Figure 1: National Sectoral Greenhouse Gas Emissions in CO2 Equivalent, According to the IPCC Classification
ISPRA
The emission values have been updated in accordance with the annual update of the national emissions inventory.
Figure 2: National Sectoral Greenhouse Gas Emissions in CO2 Equivalent, According to the IPCC Classification (Including LULUCF)
ISPRA
The emission values have been updated in accordance with the annual update of the national emissions inventory.
Figure 3: National Sectoral CO2 Emissions, According to the IPCC Classification
ISPRA
The emission values have been updated in accordance with the annual update of the national emissions inventory.
Figure 4: Changes in National Greenhouse Gas Emissions by Sector, 1990-2022
ISPRA
The emission values have been updated in accordance with the annual update of the national emissions inventory.
The emission data presented constitute the official reference source for verifying international commitments, given ISPRA's role as the responsible body for producing the annual National Inventory of Greenhouse Gas Emissions. To ensure the consistency and comparability of the inventory, the annual update of emissions involves revising the entire historical series based on the latest available information and recent methodological developments. The data are presented based on sectoral disaggregation in line with the IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories. Emissions are presented both for individual gases and in aggregate form, expressed in terms of CO2 equivalent, and reported both at the total level and disaggregated by IPCC sector.
The percentage compositions of greenhouse gases have not undergone significant changes throughout the period from 1990 to 2022. This is particularly true for carbon dioxide and methane, which, in 2022, represent 82.5% and 11.1% of the total, respectively. Nitrous oxide and F-gases contribute approximately 3.8% and 2.4% to the total greenhouse gas emissions, with indirect carbon dioxide accounting for 0.2%. It is notable that the contribution of F-gases has increased, as they accounted for just 0.7% of the total in 1990 (Table 2).
The emissions of carbon dioxide, which largely determine the overall trend of greenhouse gas emissions, show an increasing trend until 2004, after which they decrease, with a marked reduction in 2009 (Table 1, Figure 3). Methane (CH4) emissions, excluding LULUCF (Land Use, Land-Use Change, and Forestry), have decreased by 17% since 1990, while nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions have decreased by 36% (Tables 2).
Regarding F-gas emissions, there has been a significant increase since 1997. From the late 1990s onwards, these compounds have been predominantly composed of HFCs (Tables 2 and 3). Greenhouse gas emissions are primarily attributable to the energy sector, which accounted for 82% of the total in 2022. In 2022, emissions from industrial processes and agriculture contributed 6% and 7%, respectively, while the waste sector contributed 5% to the national total (Table 3, Figure 1).
As shown in Table 3, the largest contributions to methane emissions (CH4) come from agriculture and waste, while nitrous oxide emissions (N2O) are predominantly from the agricultural sector. When including estimates and carbon sequestration from the LULUCF sector in the national totals, total greenhouse gas emissions have decreased by 24.5% from 1990 to 2022 (Table 2 and Figure 2). However, it is important to consider that the carbon stock trend from 1990 to 2022 has been strongly influenced by the reduction in greenhouse gas absorption linked to the annual areas affected by forest fires.