The Polish cumulative carbon dioxide (CO2) footprint covered by the EU’s emission system ETS declined by 6.84 percent year on year in 2020, the National Centre for Emissions Management has reported.

In its Monday report, the emissions management centre, or KOBiZE, estimated Poland’s EU ETS emissions at 172.15 million tonnes of CO2 in 2020, and that includes the aviation sector.

But last year was exceptional due to the COVID-19 pandemic that crippled the operations of a wide range of sectors, notably aviation, which reduced emissions by 62 percent.

The iron and steel industry reported a 29-percent decline while the timber and paper sectors saw drops of 12 and 10 percent, respectively.

The power and heat industries reduced CO2 emissions by about 8 percent each.

Only the glass and mineral sectors posted higher emission, by 3 and 1.8 percent, respectively, along with industrial heat and power plants, which generated 2.1 percent more CO2.

In terms of the EU’s entire settlement period of 2013-2020, Poland’s total EU ETS emissions declined by 16.5 percent, excluding aviation. The power sector was the leader, with a drop of 23 percent, KOBiZE said.

However, industrial emissions increased by 1.44 percent in the seven-year period.