The European Union’s 2030 climate target of reducing its net greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by at least 55% compared to 1990 levels is not enough to limit global warming to 1.5°C by 2100 (the Paris Agreement target), according to two separate reports published on 14 October.
The first, by Climate Transparency - an international partnership of climate research organisations and NGOs - estimates that EU emissions in 2030 are expected to be around 1,639 MtCO2e (excluding absorption of emissions from land use, land use change and forestry - LULUCF), a 66% decrease from 1990 levels.
“Some EU Member States continue to invest heavily in natural gas infrastructure and are lobbying hard to be allowed to use EU resources to increase their dependence on imported fossil fuels”, the paper further states.
The report by the research institute Climate Analytics, which presents the energy mix scenarios needed to achieve the objective of limiting warming to 1.5°C, stresses that the EU’s GHG emission reduction target by 2030 should be between 61 and 74% (excluding LULUCF).
According to the paper, the share of renewable energy production in 2030 is expected to be between 76-90%, compared to 3-8% for fossil gas and with the complete elimination of coal in 2030.
See the Climate Transparency report: https://bit.ly/3DJx1Yn
See the Climate Analytics report: https://bit.ly/3BOrVda (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)