Energy Transition in Europe | www.energy-cities.eu

While nations have agreed to a global target aimed at avoiding the most catastrophic impacts of climate change, fossil fuel and other greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise when they should be falling.

And there is no formal organisation tasked with making sure individual nations are on track.

“There are no ‘police’ to check; this is a weakness of the process,” climatologist Corinne Le Quere told AFP.

The EU has big and growing ambitions for emissions reductions by 2030: down 40% below 1990 levels, increasing the share of renewables to 32% of final energy consumption and improving energy efficiency by 32.5% above business-as-usual. These targets will be further revised as the more ambitious goal of cutting emissions by 55% by 2030 becomes legally binding. This means the EU as well as individual nations must estimate the cost of meeting these goals. Carlo Stagnaro and Carlos Di Bonifacio at Istituto Bruno Leoni have reviewed the individual National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs) and warn there is a wide variation of methodologies and cost/benefit results. In other words, they give the EU no useful guide to how much it actually needs to spend. As an example of the range, the EU-average expected total investment cost to cut one ton of CO2 is €522/annum. The highest-cost countries are Portugal (€1,645), Italy (€1,312), and Bulgaria (€1,174). The least-cost are Estonia (€47), Lithuania (€67), and Denmark (€82). The authors strongly urge the EU Commission to help the member states revise their NECPs and make them consistent and transparent. The climate challenge is too important, and the amount of money to be mobilised too large, to get away with loose numbers.

A new study commissioned by the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH 2 JU) in consultation with the European Commission – DG Energy focuses on the Opportunities for Hydrogen Energy Technologies Considering the National Energy & Climate Plans. The study analyses the role of hydrogen in the National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs) and identifies and highlights opportunities for hydrogen technologies to contribute to effective and efficient achievement of the 2030 climate and energy targets of the EU and its Member States.

The study focuses on the potential and opportunities of renewable hydrogen, produced by electrolysers using renewable electricity and of low-carbon hydrogen, produced by steam methane reforming (SMR) combined with CCS. The opportunities for and impact of hydrogen deployment are assessed per Member State and are summarised in individual fiches per Member State.

The study analyses to what extent policy measures and industrial initiatives are already being taken to facilitate large-scale implementation of hydrogen in this and the next decades. The study concludes by determining the CO2 reduction potential beyond what is foreseen in the NECPs through hydrogen energy technologies, estimating the reduction of fossil fuel imports and reliance, the prospective cost, and the value added and jobs created. National teams working on decarbonisation roadmaps and updates of the NECPs are welcome to consider the opportunities and benefits of hydrogen deployment identified in this study.

Greece intends to increase the share of renewable energy in electricity consumption from 29.2% to 61% and the share in transport from 6.6% to 19%, according to its final National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP) for the period 2021-2030. The overall target for renewables is set at 35%, compared to 18% in 2018.

The report, published by the Coalition for Energy Savings, presents a brief assessment of the final National Energy and Climate Plans and their contribution towards the 2030 energy efficiency target. It shows the EU is only half way there, with all but one national contribution considered to be insufficient. With few exceptions, the notifications of energy savings obligation do not respect the requirements of the Governance Regulation. Publication, 25 March 2020. (Updated graph on FEC and graph on PEC, May 2020)