EU Set To Achieve 2 of its 3 Climate And Energy Targets For 2020

A report of the European Environment Agency published on Monday, 30th November 2020, reported an aggregated progress of the EU towards meeting two of its three 2020 climate and energy targets.

The 2020 package is a set of laws passed in 2007 and enacted in legislation in 2009 to ensure the EU meets its climate and energy targets of 2020.

The three key targets are:

• 20% cut in greenhouse gas emissions (from 1990 levels)
• 20% of EU energy from renewables
• 20% improvement in energy efficiency

According to EEA, the departure of the United Kingdom from the EU, resulting in progress towards meeting the EU’s first two 2020 climate and energy targets. The EU is expected to meet its 2020 Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emission reduction target of 20 % compared with 1990.

In 2019, among the EU Member States (without UK), emission levels represented a reduction of 24% compared with 1990 levels. The decade’s sharpest emissions cut was observed in 2019, with a 3.6 % reduction.

In 2018, the GHG emissions in the EU-28 were 26 % lower than 1990 levels in the EU (with UK).

After 2020 targets, the European Commission’s proposal would increase the 2030 emissions reduction target to at least 55 % compared with 1990.

Concurrently, the 2020 targets for Renewable Energy appear to be within reach, placing the 2030 targets well within reach,

In 2019 as EEA’s report shows, a preliminary estimate of 19.5% increased consumption of Renewable energy. While in 2018, the EU’s total energy consumption from renewable sources reached 18.9%.

After 2030, the Renewable Energy Sources share in the EU will need to grow substantially, with an annual average growth rate of at least 2.7 percentage each year from 2030 through 2050, to achieve the long-term EU climate neutrality objective for 2050.

Renewable energy sources contribute to energy needs in three well-defined sectors: electricity generation, heating and cooling, and transport.

That leaves the EU’s achievement of its 2020 Energy Efficiency targets as the big miss. The targets are expressed in both primary energy consumption (total energy demand) and final energy consumption (consumption by end-users).

For the EU to achieve climate neutrality by 2050, it would need to reduce its primary and final energy consumption considerably faster than it has since 2005.