Lisbon, Dec. 19, 2025 (Lusa) - Electricity from renewable sources in Portugal reached a maximum of 86.2% in 2024 and contributed to a 4.4% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions compared to 2023, the National Statistics Institute (INE) revealed on Friday.
Environmentally relevant taxes reached €5.9 billion (+8.7% compared to 2023), driven mainly by the tax on petroleum and energy products (ISP), while public expenditure on environmental protection fell to €1.61 billion (€1.774 billion in 2023).
"In 2024, Portugal experienced a changing environmental landscape, with significant improvements but persistent challenges, in a context of economic growth," said the INE, when releasing the environmental indicators for last year.
Among the relevant aspects in this context, INE highlighted the growth in the resident population - (up 1% compared to 2023), which was "the second largest increase in the 21st century" - reaching 10,749,635 people, and economic development, with domestic demand growing by 2.9%.
"Significant aspects were observed in the energy transition, with electricity from renewable sources reaching a maximum of 86.2%, contributing to a reduction in national energy dependence to 64.3%," reads the document released today.
The year in question was the third hottest in the last decade, while air quality was classified as mostly good (46.0% of the days).
Although the number of rural fires was "the lowest in the last decade," the area burned increased to the fourth largest in this period, according to the same source.
"In terms of resource use, domestic consumption of materials decreased by 5%, but sectoral waste production increased by 4.9% and urban waste collection by 3.4% compared to 2023," according to INE data, which also indicates that the rate of preparation for reuse and recycling of urban waste reached 37%, but "still far from the 55% target for 2025".
Industrial companies involved in environmental management and protection increased (+1.2 percentage points), but reduced environmental investment by 11%, with operating costs increasing by the same order of magnitude.
"Entities producing environmental goods and services had a turnover of €13.9 billion (€13.8 billion in 2023), of which €8.1 billion resulted from environmental activities in the field of resource management," highlighted INE.
The number of vehicles in circulation grew by 4.6%, but 100% electric passenger cars increased by 49.4%, representing 2.7% of the total.
A total of 209,700 new passenger cars were sold, 5.1% more than in 2023.
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