Over the year 2019 as a whole, greenhouse gas emissions from the EU electricity sector fell by around 12%, according to the latest quarterly reports on the European electricity and gas markets published by the European Commission on Monday 6 April.
Electricity. This decrease is explained by a drop in electricity consumption and a reduction in electricity production by coal-fired power stations, to the benefit of gas, but above all of renewable energies.
According to the Electricity Market Report, while fossil fuel-based electricity generation fell by 26% in October-December 2019 compared to 2018, the share of renewables in the EU28 energy mix (including the UK) reached 35%, a record for a fourth quarter.
As regards the electrification of transport, the Commission points out that around 3% of new passenger cars sold in the EU28 in 2019 were battery electric vehicles, compared to 2% in 2018.
Gas. Regarding the gas market, the second report shows that gas consumption in the EU in 2019 amounted to 482 bcm, an increase of 2% (+10 bcm) compared to 2018.
While EU28 gas production decreased at all major producers, including the Netherlands, Romania, and the United Kingdom, net EU gas imports, on the contrary, increased by 8% compared to the previous year (+8.1 bcm) in the last quarter of 2019.
Of the 107 bcm of net imports in the fourth quarter of 2019, 39% of gas deliveries were covered by Russia.
While the EU’s net gas imports amounted to 398 bcm for the whole of 2019, the Commission expects an increase in the EU’s dependence on these imports due to the withdrawal of the UK.
To consult the two reports: https://bit.ly/2x9Hrnz and https://bit.ly/2JGrg3J (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)