The pace of Europe’s deployment of renewable energy meant the EU ETS should hit its 2030 emissions reduction target, the European Commission said in its annual report on the EU ETS on Tuesday.
EU ETS emissions from stationary installations fell by a record 16.5% last year to just below 1.1bn tonnes, the EC said in a report to the European Parliament and the Council.
The EC attributed this sharp drop largely to a “substantial increase” in renewable electricity production – primarily wind and solar – and gas replacing coal in power generation, facilitated by sustained average carbon prices in 2023 of over EUR 80/tCO2.
Verified emissions for electricity and heat fell by 24% to 552m tonnes last year, the report said.
“Early indications show that in the first half of 2024, around 50% of electricity generation came from renewables, with wind and solar generating more electricity than fossil fuels combined.”
By the end of last year, EU ETS emissions were 48% below 2005 levels, putting them “well on track to achieve the 2030 target of -62%”, the EC said.
The EU ETS cap on emissions from power plants and industry is reduced annually in line with the bloc’s target of cutting emissions by 55% from 1990 levels by 2030. This translates into a 62% reduction from 2005 levels by 2030.
Fossil fuel production down
Output from fossil fuels decreased by a fifth last year, amounting to less than a third of total power production, according to the report.
A trend of increased coal use in 2022 resulting from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was also “mostly reversed” last year.
“The EU also achieved an 18% reduction in natural gas demand between August 2022 and May 2024,” the EC said.
Lower industrial emissions also contributed to this decline, falling by 7.5% last year to 544m tonnes, according to the report.
source: montel news
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