Environment at a Glance Indicators

Lithuania

This country profile features selected environmental indicators from the OECD Core Set, building on harmonised datasets available on OECD Data Explorer. The indicators reflect major environmental issues, including climate, air quality, freshwater resources, waste and the circular economy, biodiversity, and selected policy responses to these issues. Differences with national data sources can occur due to delays in data treatment and publication, or due to different national definitions and measurement methods. The OECD is working with countries and other international organisations to further improve the indicators and the underlying data.

Context

Lithuania has a small, open and increasingly high-skill economy. Gross domestic product (GDP) more than doubled over the past 20 years, driven mainly by the increased trade in goods and services. Lithuania has a diversified economy based on oil refining, pharmaceutical and chemicals (especially plastics and fertilizers) industry, wood processing, textile, manufacturing of machineries and electronics industries as well as food and agriculture products.

With fewer than three million residents, it is among the least populous OECD member countries. Population is relatively rural: although 51% of people live in cities, only 23% live in large cities of more than 500 000. Lithuania is a highly centralised, unitary state with the territory divided into 60 municipalities. There are considerable disparities between regions. Vilnius is the most prosperous in terms of GDP per person, employment and productivity growth.

Lithuania is located on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. It is a flat country with abundant agricultural land, water and forest resources. Limestone, clay, sand, and gravel are its primary natural resources, but the coastal shelf offers some unexploited oil deposits. Located within the Boreal biogeographical region the country shelters megafauna like the elk, gray wolf, Eurasian lynx and beaver in forest and wetland habitats.

Lithuania relies on energy imports for almost all fossil fuels. The country hosts the only operating oil refinery in the Baltic States: the Orlen Lietuva refinery complex near Mažeikiai. The refining capacity exceeds domestic demand, so significant volumes of refined fuel are exported. Domestically generated electricity is mostly renewable, generated by onshore wind, hydropower (primarily from one large plant near Kaunas) and solid biofuels. The country is predominantly agricultural, but a third is forested. Forestry and forest products are a significant part of the Lithuanian economy.

Climate change

CO₂ emissions from fuel combustion and energy supply have decoupled from economic growth. Per person intensities of both production-based and demand-based CO₂ emissions (footprints) are well below the OECD and OECD Europe averages.

Following a steep decline in the 1990s and a more modest one in 2006-09, total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (excluding LULUCF) have recently been flat: reduced emissions from energy and, to a smaller extent, industry, have been offset by increased emissions from transport.

Energy mix

Renewable energy sources, dominated by biomass (biofuels), represent a relatively large share of the energy mix. Oil and natural gas filled the energy gap when the Ignalina nuclear power station closed in 2009. The share of natural gas in total energy supply has since declined, while the share of oil has increased.

Air quality

Air emissions

Emissions of most major air pollutants have decreased. Road transport is the main source of nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions. Emissions have decreased since 2000 primarily due to introduction of stringent vehicle standards. Lithuania reached its 2020 Gothenburg Protocol objectives for sulphur dioxide (SO₂), NOx, non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOCs) and ammonia (NH₃) emissions.

All emission intensities (except NOx per person) are below the OECD average; they are however generally higher than the OECD Europe average.

Emission reductions went on par with air quality improvements. Average population exposure to fine particles (PM_2.5) nevertheless remains above the new guideline value of 5 µg/m³ recommended by the World Health Organization.

Freshwater resources

Use of freshwater resources

Lithuania has a dense network of rivers that drain into the Baltic Sea directly, via the Curonian Lagoon or the Gulf of Riga. Many of these rivers are shared with neighbouring countries. The large decrease in water stress levels in 2010 is due to the closure of the Ignalina nuclear power station, which used large amounts of water to cool its atomic reactors. Abstractions for public supply are low compared to most OECD countries but have been increasing since 2012. Illegal abstraction is an issue, as 13% (approx. 50 000 m³ /day) of the drinking water is abstracted from not approbated groundwater resources (usually small-scale groundwater well sites).

Despite progress, the share of the population connected to public sewage treatment plants remains below the OECD average. The country relies extensively on individual wastewater treatment systems (so-called IAS; such as septic tanks, individual biological sewage treatment plans, sewage storage tanks) for which monitoring is complex. Some agglomerations between 2 000 and 10 000 population equivalents do not have secondary treatment of their wastewater.

Waste, materials and circular economy

Municipal waste

Generation of municipal solid waste per person increased due to the population decline while the total volume of municipal waste remained roughly the same. Recycling and composting have become the dominant treatment methods of municipal waste as a result of separate waste collection, construction of sorting facilities, improved labelling requirements, education and awareness campaigns, and expanded deposit-refund schemes for beverage containers.

Material consumption

Lithuania’s material productivity remained largely unchanged since 2010. Except during the 2009 financial crisis, material consumption rose steadily in line with GDP growth but was not accompanied by improved resource efficiency and therefore material consumption per person continue to increase. As in many countries, construction materials represent the dominant share, followed by biomass. Consumption of construction minerals grew the fastest, in line with the strong GDP growth since the 2008-09 financial crisis. Fossil energy carriers dominate material imports, reflecting the country’s high reliance on energy imports.

Biodiversity

Lithuania is a flat and low-lying country with a maximum elevation of just 300 metres above sea level. It is predominantly agricultural. A third of the country is forested, wetlands and water bodies occupy 3% of the country, and urbanisation pressure (“land take”) is modest. Arable area and forest area have increased over the last 15 years, while grassland has declined. The expansion of more input-intensive arable farming, land use change and fragmentation, and intensive forestry practices are the leading pressures on biodiversity.

Protected areas

The terrestrial network, established in the 1970s, was significantly expanded in the early 1990s. It made further smaller designations in the early 2000s. Changes since 2010 have been relatively minor in terms of total area, but Lithuania plans to expand the terrestrial network of protected areas to 20% of land area by 2024. Most protected areas are mixed-use landscapes (common with many European countries) and resource management areas (for sustainable forest management). Strict nature reserves are uncommon. Most sites are small because the landscape is relatively heterogeneous and fragmented – large areas of continuous natural habitats are rare. Only about 1.3 % of the country’s land is covered by protected areas that have had management effectiveness assessments and the same is true for 3.2 % of the EEZ. Protected Area Management Effectiveness (PAME) evaluations, can be defined as: “the assessment of how well protected areas are being managed – primarily the extent to which management is protecting values and achieving goals and objectives" (Hockings et al. 2006).

Policy instruments

Environmentally-related taxation

Lithuania’s revenue from environmentally-related taxes as a share of GDP is below the OECD Europe average but above the OECD one. As in most other OECD countries, revenues have declined in recent years and energy products – especially motor vehicle fuels – generate most of the revenues. Transport, pollution and resource taxes do not raise much revenue.

Government support to fossil fuels and effective carbon rates (ECR)

Lithuania implicitly supports the consumption of fossil fuels through favourable tax treatments, such as exemptions from excise duties and reduced rates for business purposes and heating, and exemptions for air and water navigations, and some other uses. On December 2019, the Administration approved EUR 275 million worth of state guarantees for a loan for the Klaipėda LNG Terminal to purchase LNG ship-storage facility and the restructuring of the LNG terminal maintenance costs. This measure is seen to continue with state guarantees amounting to a budgeted total of EUR 135.5 million in the period 2019-2024. In 2022, in response to the soaring energy prices, the Government introduced compensations for gas and electricity to households as well as businesses. The support for gas has been extended until the end of 2023.

Lithuania puts a price on GHG emissions via energy taxes. Overall, just below 60% of GHG emissions are priced and 33% are priced above 120 EUR/tonne of CO₂. These shares increase to 92% and 51% respectively, when excluding emissions from the combustion of biomass, meaning that most emissions from biomass are not taxed.

Technology and innovation

The share of environmentally-related government’s R&D budget has declined drastically since 2004-06, from 6-8% to less than 1% in 2021. By contrast, the share of renewables in RD&D on energy has slightly increased 2019-21, at about 25%.

Lithuania is a marginal eco-innovation performer. The number of patent applications on climate change mitigation and environmental management, filed for protection in at least two jurisdictions by national inventors, remains below 15 per year, a low number. The share of environmentally-related patents is in line with the OECD average, at about 10%.

Environment-related Official Development Assistance (ODA)

As an official provider of development co-operation since 2004 and a Development Assistance Committee (DAC) member since 2022, Lithuania’s co-operation focuses on democratic values and sharing its transition experience, notably in countries of the European Union’s (EU) Eastern Partnership. Most official development assistance (ODA) is channelled through the EU. Lithuania’s total ODA (USD 243 million) increased in 2022 due to in-donor refugee costs and aid to Ukraine. ODA represented 0.36% of gross national income (GNI). In 2020-21, Lithuania committed 14.7% of its total bilateral allocable aid (USD 1.9 million) in support of the environment and the Rio Conventions (Development Assistance - DAC countries’ average of 34.3%), down from 15.9% in 2018-19. Nine per cent of total bilateral allocable aid (USD 1.2 million) focused on climate change overall (the DAC average was 29%), up from 6.7% in 2018-19.

References and further reading

CBD (2022), Country profiles: Lithuania, https://www.cbd.int/countries/profile/?country=lt#facts

IEA (2021), Lithuania 2021 Energy Policy Review, IEA Energy Policy Reviews, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/db346bb1-en.

OECD (2023), OECD Inventory of Support Measures for Fossil Fuels: Country Notes, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/5a3efe65-en 

OECD (2023), "Lithuania", in Development Co-operation Profiles, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/2dcf1367-en.

OECD (2022), OECD Economic Outlook, Volume 2022 Issue 1, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/62d0ca31-en.

OECD (2021), OECD Environmental Performance Reviews: Lithuania 2021, OECD Environmental Performance Reviews, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/48d82b17-en.

UNEP-WCMC (2024), “Protected Area Profile for Lithuania”, the World Database of Protected Areas, www.protectedplanet.net