The EU statistics office said the biggest increase was in Malta (12.8%), followed by Estonia (11.3%), Bulgaria (8.3%), Spain (7.4%) and Portugal (7.3%).

The best performing countries in cutting CO2 emissions were Finland (-5.9%), Denmark (-5.8%), the UK (-3.2%), and Ireland (-2.9%).

Portugal’s CO2 emissions represent 1.5% of the EU total, where Germany is the largest contributor (23%).