Greenhouse gas emissions decreased last year

This means that nearly 0.5 million tonnes less greenhouse gas was emitted in Norway in 2016 compared with the preceding year, measured in CO2 equivalents. The major cause is the reduced use of fossil fuels in road traffic and oil and gas extraction.

More use of biofuels reduced emissions from road traffic

The total number of cars increased last year, as did the volume of traffic measured in kilometres. In 2016, 4.3 billion litres of petrol and auto diesel were sold in total. This is 119 million litres more than the preceding year. Nevertheless, the greenhouse gases from road traffic were reduced by 3.6 per cent in 2016.

The blending of bio fuels in petrol and auto diesel was a major reason for the decrease. In 2016, 62.5 million litres of bioethanol were added to petrol, giving a biofuel share of 5.4 per cent. For auto diesel, 400.7 million litres of bio-diesel were added, giving a biofuel share of 12.8 per cent. The total biofuel share more than doubled from 2015 to 2016, from 4.5 to 11 per cent.

• More figures and tables in the statistics Emissions of greenhouse gases

Less use of natural gas in oil and gas production 

Despite higher production of oil and gas in 2016, the greenhouse gas emissions from these activities were reduced by 1.6 per cent, compared with 2015. This is primarily due to less use of natural gas for power production on the fields.