In the first half of 2020, the production of electricity from renewable sources in the European Union exceeded that from fossil fuels for the first time ever, according to a report by the Ember think tank published on Wednesday 22 July.
During this period, renewables produced 40% of the EU’s electricity, compared to 34% from fossil fuels, notes the document, based on data from the 'European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity' (ENTSO-E).
This shift in favour of renewables has led to a decrease in CO2 emissions from the EU electricity sector of about 23%, the report also underlines.
According to Ember, this is the result of an increase in production from renewable sources (+11% compared to the first half of 2019), which is itself due to new wind and solar installations and favourable weather conditions, combined with a decrease in fossil-fuelled electricity production (-18%) caused by the growth of renewables and a 7% drop in electricity demand due to the coronavirus.
From January to June, wind and solar generated an unprecedented 21% of the EU’s electricity. Hydroelectric dams (13%) and bioenergy (6%) provided the remaining 19%.
Coal, on the other hand, fell by 32% for the EU as a whole, generating only 12% of the EU’s electricity.
According to the report, the decline was particularly marked in Germany (-34%), such that Poland now produces more coal-fired electricity than Germany and as much as the other 25 EU countries combined.
To help countries such as Poland and the Czech Republic move out of coal, Ember stresses the importance of using post-Covid-19 stimulus spending to immediately increase investment in wind and solar power, while strengthening the Just Transition Fund.
See the report: https://bit.ly/30DJAme (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)