EU: Pace Of Greenhouse Emission Reductions Must Step Up To Meet 2030 Targets

(Photo : Getty Images/Carl de Souza)

The pace of greenhouse gas emission reductions should step up in order to attain its climate targets.

According to a recent report released by the European Commission, EU greenhouse gas net emissions decreased by around 3% in 2022, which indicates that the overall downward trend of the past 30 years has continued.

However, the EU and as well as its member states need to significantly step-up implementation efforts in order to keep on track towards the EU's 2030 55% GHG reduction target and the EU's 2050 climate neutrality objective.

Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Officials pointed out that the share of renewable energy in gross final energy consumption reached 21.8% in 2021.

They noted that with an average yearly increase of 0.67 percentage points since 2010, reaching the new 2030 EU target of 42.5% (and even more so the aspirational target of 45%) will require a much faster growth in the coming years.

"While Member States have made good efforts to increase cross-border capacity, further efforts are required to meet the 2030 interconnectivity objectives, in particular in terms of the timely deliveryof planned cross-border projects between member states," the EU stated.

It was observed that after the 2021 strong rebound in greenhouse gas emissions following the unprecedented fall in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the EU emissions in 2022 are expected to be back in line with the 30-year descending trend achieved before the pandemic.

Further, the most recent GHG emission projections submitted by the member states have shown significant gaps with the EU collective climate targets, even when additional measures are considered.

Experts said that in order to stay on track with the EU 2030 reduction target and climate neutrality by 2050, the EU needs to significantly pick up the pace of change and increase the focus on areas where the progress has been recently far too slow, or where reductions have even moved in the wrong direction in recent years.

"On average, the overall renewable energy share has been increasing by 0.67 percentage points annually since 2010. The new 2030 EU target of 42.5% (and even more so the aspirational target of 45%) will require a much faster growth in the coming years," the EU explained.

The EU said that the progress has been especially strong in the electricity sector, with an increase in the renewables share from 21.3% in 2010 to 37.6% in 2021.

On the other hand, the progress in heating and cooling (from 17% to 22.9%) and transport (from 5.5% to 9.1%) was more modest.

Renewable Energy Shares

The report noted that renewable energy shares in 2021 vary widely across member states.

This observation reflected the different starting positions and national targets set for each member state in the original renewable energy directive and the national contributions set in the national energy and climate plans.

The EU said that Sweden achieved the highest renewable energy share in 2021 (62.6%), followed by Finland (43.1%) and Latvia (42.1%).

With shares not exceeding 13%, Belgium, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, and the Netherlands had the lowest renewable energy shares.