The article looks at how much CO2 different EU countries produced from 2000 to 2017 in sectors like energy, industry, agriculture, and waste management. The researchers wanted to see which sectors contribute the most to carbon emissions. They found that energy is the biggest emitter, but overall, emissions have dropped in all sectors. Waste management saw the biggest decrease (40%), followed by industry (17%), energy (16.2%), and agriculture (5%). By grouping countries based on their carbon footprint, they discovered that EU countries are becoming more similar in their emissions over time.