# Spain’s preliminary 2025 greenhouse gas emissions rose 1.5%

> INE’s atmospheric emissions account estimates 283.6 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent, up year on year but 32% below the series’ 2008 starting point.

- Topic: Economic and industry statistics
- Subjects: Official statistics, Emissions
- Event date: 2026-10-22
- First published on EPC Feed: 2026-10-25T01:45:37.511Z
- Updated: 2026-10-25T01:45:37.511Z
- Countries: Spain
- Page: https://epcfeed.com/news/spain-ine-estimates-greenhouse-gas-emissions-rose-15-percent-in-2025


## Key facts

- Total greenhouse gases: 283.6 million tonnes CO₂ equivalent, advance 2025 estimate
- Annual change: +1.5% versus 2024
- Change since 2008: −32.0%

## A preliminary rise within a longer decline

Spain’s economy emitted an estimated 283.6 million tonnes of greenhouse gases in 2025, 1.5% more than in 2024, according to advance figures released by the National Statistics Institute (INE) on 22 October. The publication is the 2025 edition of the Atmospheric Emissions Account, part of the environmental accounts. INE says the account records emissions by resident economic units, both within Spain’s economic territory and abroad. That accounting boundary is important: the series is not simply a territorial inventory of smokestack emissions occurring inside the country.

The new estimate follows a long-run reduction from the series’ 2008 starting point. INE reports that greenhouse gas emissions declined 32.0% between 2008 and 2025, even with the latest year’s increase. The movement therefore has two distinct parts: a year-on-year rise in the advance estimate and a lower level than at the beginning of the published account series. Neither measure alone describes the full trend. The 2025 number is explicitly labelled advance data, so it should be treated as provisional rather than a final inventory value.

Carbon dioxide accounted for most of the total. The detailed table reports 224.8 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent for carbon dioxide, 79.3% of total greenhouse gas emissions, with a 1.7% annual increase. Methane was 41.9 million tonnes, or 14.8% of the total, rising 0.4%. Nitrous oxide contributed 12.2 million tonnes, 4.3%, and rose 1.5%; other greenhouse gases amounted to 4.7 million tonnes and declined 0.3%. The table’s figures are expressed in thousands of tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, a common unit that converts different gases using their global-warming potentials.

## Account boundaries and interpretation

Households represented 23.1% of the total, according to the release summary. The account also attributes emissions across resident economic units, allowing emissions to be compared with economic activity by sector in the underlying tables. This perspective differs from a simple source-by-source list of facilities: the statistical unit is the resident economic unit, and emissions occurring beyond national territory may be included when they are associated with those residents. A reader comparing the result with a national inventory must first check each series’ boundary and accounting framework.

The annual change does not, by itself, identify its causes. The release reports the movements by gas type, but those movements should not be recast as evidence of a particular policy effect, fuel switch or industrial event unless additional source material demonstrates that link. Similarly, a 1.5% increase in the account is not a measure of emissions per unit of output, because this headline total contains no output denominator. The underlying data tables and methodological material are the appropriate places to inspect sector detail, series definitions and revisions.

For energy and infrastructure readers, the account offers an economy-wide statistical reference point rather than a project announcement. It can inform discussion of power generation, transport, manufacturing and household emissions, but the aggregate cannot allocate the year-on-year increase to any one of those activities. INE’s distinction between advance estimates and final data should remain visible in any later comparison. The defensible reading is therefore narrow: preliminary total emissions rose in 2025; the recorded level remained substantially below 2008; and carbon dioxide remained the dominant gas in the account.

## Sources

1. [Atmospheric Emissions Account, 2025 advance data](https://www.ine.es/dyngs/Prensa/CEA2025.htm). Official data, Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Published 2026-10-22, Read 2026-10-25.
2. [Atmospheric emissions account: latest data and series table](https://ine.es/dyngs/INEbase/es/operacion.htm?c=Estadistica_C&cid=1254736176941&idp=1254735976603). Official data, Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Published 2026-10-22, Read 2026-10-25.
3. [Annual Statistical Programme 2026: Atmospheric Emissions Account](https://www.boe.es/eli/es/rd/2026/02/03/55). Government source, Boletín Oficial del Estado, Published 2026-02-05, Read 2026-10-25.
4. [Standardised methodological report: Atmospheric Emissions Account (operation 30084)](https://www.ine.es/dynt3/metadatos/es/RespuestaDatos.html?oe=30084). Official data, Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Read 2026-10-25.