Emissions From Icelanders Are Twice As Much As Swedes

Iceland’s greenhouse gas emissions were twice as high per capita as Sweden this year, Stundin reports. The greenhouse gas emissions would be five times higher if it wasn’t for renewable energy.

This was stated by Guðmundur Ingi Guðbrandsson, Minister of the Environment and Natural Resources, in response to a question from Ásmundur Friðriksson, Member of Parliament for the Independence Party.

Thank god for renewable energy.

The National Energy Authority provided the Minister with figures from climate accounting from 2018 which show that 3,700 kilotons are saved due to central heating with renewable energy sources.

Iceland’s total emissions in 2018 stood at 4,857 kilotons of carbon dioxide equivalents. Just over 16,200 kilotons was saved thanks to electricity production from geothermal energy and hydropower instead of oil.

The majority of the savings were made due to electricity consumption of power-intensive industries, a total of 85 percent, which saved about 13,800 kilotons compared to burning oil.

Still producing too many greenhouse gases.

The answer given by Guðmundur Ingi Guðbrandsson does take into account that compared to most countries, Iceland uses far more renewable energy than the rest of the world thanks to the grounds the country sits on.

Guðmundur says, “It should be borne in mind that emissions per capita in Iceland are considered to be high worldwide. Greenhouse gas emissions per capita (excluding land use) were about 14 tonnes in Iceland in 2018, but about 10 tonnes in Norway, almost 9 tonnes on average in the EU and almost 6 tonnes in Sweden.”

Note: Due to the effect the Coronavirus is having on tourism in Iceland, it’s become increasingly difficult for the Grapevine to survive. If you enjoy our content and want to help the Grapevine’s journalists do things like eat and pay rent, please consider joining our High Five Club.

You can also check out our shop, loaded with books, apparel and other cool merch, that you can buy and have delivered right to your door.