L’European Union is on track to meet and even exceed its clean and renewable energy technology targets set for 2030. The installation of solar and heat pumps exploded last year due to the Russian invasion of the Ukraine and the energy crisis it triggered, according to a new report.
Brussels has pledged to meet the target of 40% renewable energy by 2030 in the package Fit for 55 which it unveiled in the summer of 2021, but the 27 could reach 45%, according to a report published Tuesday by the think tank Ember.
This is partly due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, which exacerbated the energy crisis across Europe as European economies sought to wean themselves off Russian fossil fuels that Moscow has stopped supplying. to many countries.
European countries have accelerated their energy transition, says the independent think tank Ember. Investments in clean technologies have jumped by almost a third in one year to reach new records.
This was the case for the deployment of solar energy, with more than 40 GW installed in the EU last year, an increase of 47% compared to 2021. At the same time, estimates value new capacity in 2023 to more than 50 GW.
This exponential growth should enable the Fit for 55 solar goal to be reached four years earlier than expected, in 2026.Germanyl’Spainthe Polandl’ItalyTHE The Netherlands and the France could continue the development of solar energy beyond the objectives set.
Significant growth was also seen last year in both heat pumps and electric vehicles.
A record 3 million heat pumps were sold in the EU in 2022, equivalent to around four billion cubic meters of natural gas. This brought the total stock to around 20 million, reaching an interim target set for 2026.
Projections now place the number of heat pumps installed by 2030 between 60 and 72 million, significantly more than the 40 million units modeled in the package. Fit for 55.
Sales of electric vehicles continued to climb despite a difficult year for car sales in general. The automotive industry is now confident in its ability to meet the transport electrification target, which is to increase fivefold by 2030.
Unlike wind, solar fell short of targets last year, and new capacity is below target Fit for 55, despite a 40% increase over the previous year. The outlook for offshore wind is more positive as projects under development would add 70.5GW of capacity, close to a new interim target set earlier this year of 111GW by the end of the decade.
For the think tank Emberthe positive trends observed over the past 12 months should prompt the EU to revise its targets upwards.
“A new energy reality has unfolded across Europe since the presentation of the Fit for 55 package eighteen months ago, with record investments in clean energy reflecting the security and economic imperatives for increasing renewable energies”, Elisabeth Cremona, energy and climate data specialistEmbersaid. “Renewable technologies are set to exceed Fit for 55 expectations, putting the EU on a path to at least 45% renewable energy by 2030. 40% renewable energy no longer reflects our goals, regardless. sticking to the lower target means aiming for failure”.
The European Commission and the Parliament both said they favored an increase in targets ahead of final negotiations on the EU’s 2030 renewables target, due to take place next March. But some Member States would prefer the original target to remain unchanged.