It said that emissions declined by 3.8% from 2023 to 2024 to 292.6kt of carbon dioxide equivalent, approximately 4.5 tonnes per capita.
It means that emissions have halved since records started being kept in 1990. And the provisional estimate for 2025 forecasts another drop.
The States said that the main source of these emissions was combustion of fossil fuels for power generation, transport and heating.
More than three-quarters of emissions were carbon dioxide.
Transport was responsible for 37.3% of emissions, followed by commercial and domestic combustion at 22.6%, which covers commercial and domestic combustion of fuels for heating and hot water in homes and offices. Some 87% of this is domestic.
The transport figures have declined by a third since 1990 and fell by a further 5.8% between 2023 and 2024.
The States said that levels of greenhouse gases emitted through transport have generally been trending downwards since a peak in 2000, due to decreasing emissions from road transport. Still half came from local road transport, 29% from navigation and 17% from aviation.
Waste was the third largest contributor at 13.6%, which again has halved since 1990.
The proportion of emissions from landfilled waste, mostly methane gas from decomposing material, has changed little since 1990. But changes in the island’s waste strategy will mean that this should drop in the years to come.
Agriculture, land use, land use change and forestry combined contribute just 5.7% of total emissions, mostly methane from cattle. Energy emissions from the construction industry rose slightly over the course of the year.
The figures only reflect emissions released from Guernsey, and not any emissions in Europe resulting from the island’s import of electricity, which has now been going on for 25 years, and meant a significant decrease in the amount of power generated locally.
The States has signed up to several international agreements and protocols on emissions and greenhouse gases, most recently the Paris Agreement, aiming to limit global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
Last March the Environment & Infrastructure Committee published a seven-year plan with intention of reducing carbon emissions up to 2050.
A cost-neutral plan identified building standards, car journeys and heating fuels as areas for improvement.
It noted that the island was already on course to meet an interim 2030 target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 57% on 1990 levels, largely thanks to the electricity interconnector to France.
Without additional changes, emissions are currently estimated to reduce by 66% by 2050.
Some of the remaining 34% could be achieved by the initiatives proposed in E&I’s plan, but it said that net zero was likely to be fully achieved only with advancements in carbon capture technology.
E&I’s seven-year plan also includes reducing emissions from agriculture, the States reporting on its own emissions, reviewing the use of environmental taxes, and bringing together the public and private sectors in a Net Zero Action Forum.
The States has also agreed a new electricity strategy in recent years, arguing that greater investment in renewable energy would cost the States and the public less in the long term than retaining current infrastructure.
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