According to forecasts published this month, Luxembourg is the fifth best student in the class as it is expected to report a 3.8% drop in emissions from 2015 to 2016, contributing 0.3% of the EU’s emissions.

The best results are expected from Malta (-18.2%), Bulgaria (-7%), Portugal (-5.7%) and the UK (-4.8%). Across the EU, emissions are expected to have decreased 0.4% compared with the previous year.

Altogether 17 countries will report an increase in CO2 emissions, according to the report.

Finland will report the biggest increase (+8.25%), followed by Cyprus (+7%), Slovenia (+5.6%), Denmark (+5.7%) and Croatia (+4.3%).

The results will surely be welcomed by those driving Luxembourg's ambitious environmental policies: its 20% greenhouse gas reduction target from 2015 to 2020 is the most ambitious of any United Nations member state.

Luxembourg expects to bring big changes through switching to renewable energy sources, ensuring they contribute to 11% of overall resources by 2020 by doubling the number of wind farms in the country and developing photovoltaic energy more extensively.

These and other steps have not gone unnoticed: Luxembourg was ranked 13th place in the 2016 Climate Change Performance Index, whereas in 2015 it was only in 29th place.

The estimates of this EU report were based on monthly energy statistics gathered that Eurostat using a harmonised methodology. They do not include emissions from the combustion of non-renewable waste.