The FINANCIAL — Energy, transport and increased human intervention in the environment have proven to be major contributors to climate change over the last few decades. The European Union (EU) has actively been pursuing ambitious emission reduction targets for years. The UN Climate Change Conference taking place in Paris in December 2015 (COP21) illustrates the global political importance of climate change, energy security and sustainable transport, three topics that have become increasingly interconnected.
On the occasion of the publication of the 2015 Energy, transport and environment statistical book and with regard to the forthcoming COP21 in Paris, Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, publishes a small selection of data on energy, transport and environment in the EU related to climate change. These data show that while primary consumption of energy stood in 2013 at its early 1990s level, renewables have increased their share in final energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions decreased over the same time period.
Largest reductions in greenhouse gas emissions in the Baltic EU Member States and Romania
Compared with 1990, most Member States reduced their greenhouse gas emissions by 2012. Emissions have more than halved in Latvia (-57.1%), Lithuania (-55.6%), Estonia (-52.6%) and Romania (-52.0%), followed by Bulgaria (-44.1%), Slovakia (-41.4%), Hungary (-36.3%) and the Czech Republic (-32.7%). In contrast, increases were registered in Malta (+56.9%), Cyprus (+47.7%), Spain (+22.5%), Portugal (+14.9%), Ireland (+7.0%), Greece (+5.7%), Austria (+4.0%) and Slovenia (+2.6%). At EU level, emissions were 17.9% below 1990 levels. While the EU is now confident of achieving its Europe 2020 target of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 20% in 2020, it has recently doubled its objective in the context of the COP21, with at least a 40% reduction compared to 1990 levels to be achieved by 2030.
Greenhouse gas emissions in the EU as a whole stood in 2012 at 4 683 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent, with the biggest emitter being Germany (965 million), followed by the United Kingdom (615 mn), France (507 mn), Italy (471 mn), Poland (401 mn) and Spain (354 mn). Together, these six Member States generated around 70% of all greenhouse gas emissions in the EU in 2012.
Share of railway transport increased the most in Austria
The transport sector has the second biggest greenhouse gas emissions in the EU. More than two thirds of transport-related greenhouse gas emissions are from road transport. For this reason shifting inland journeys from road to rail is part of the EU strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Between 2003 and 2013, the share of rail in inland passenger transport performance rose in a majority of Member States, with the highest relative increases being registered in Austria (from 9.5% in 2003 to 12.7% in 2013, or a 3.2 percentage point increase) and the United Kingdom (+3.0 pp). In contrast, the largest decreases were recorded in Romania (a 7.0 pp fall), Hungary (-3.2 pp), Poland (-3.0 pp) and Bulgaria (-2.6 pp). Regarding freight transport, the trend is the opposite: most Member States have seen the share of rail in their freight transport performance fall between 2003 and 2013. Railway freight transport declined mainly in Eastern EU Member States, notably in Estonia (-26.8 pp), Bulgaria (-25.2 pp), Poland (-18.5 pp), Lithuania (-16.4 pp) and Slovakia (-16.1 pp), while the largest increase was recorded in Austria (+13.4 pp), followed by Denmark (+5.3 pp) and Germany (+5.1 pp).
At EU level, the share of railways in inland passenger transport performance rose from 6.7% in 2003 to 7.6% in 2013, while for freight transport, it decreased from 18.3% to 17.8%.
Twenty Member States have already reached their Europe 2020 targets on energy consumption
From 1995, primary energy consumption in the EU increased to reach a peak in 2006. Since then, the overall decline in primary energy consumption has brought it back to its early 1990s levels. Compared with 2005, all EU Member States have seen their primary energy consumption in 2013 fall, except Estonia and Poland. The largest reductions were registered in Lithuania (-27.9%), Greece (-22.6%) and Malta (-20.0%), followed by Hungary (-17.3%), Spain (-16.4%), Romania (-15.8%), Portugal (-14.5%), Italy (-14.1%), Bulgaria (-13.8%), the United Kingdom (-12.7%) and Cyprus (-12.0%).
Twenty EU Member States have already reached in 2013 the level required to meet their national 2020 targets, while Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Sweden and the United Kingdom registered primary energy consumption still above their Europe 2020 targets.
Highest share of renewables in Sweden, lowest in Luxembourg
Since 2004, the share of renewable sources in gross final consumption of energy grew significantly in all Member States, with thirteen Member States having at least doubled their share of renewables over the last 10 years.
With 52.1%, Sweden had by far in 2013 the highest share of energy from renewable sources in its gross final consumption of energy, ahead of Latvia (37.1%), Finland (36.8%) and Austria (32.6%). In contrast, the lowest proportions of renewables were found in Luxembourg (3.6%), Malta (3.8%), the Netherlands (4.5%) and the United Kingdom (5.1%). At EU level, the share of energy from renewable sources in gross final consumption of energy reached 15.0% in 2013, compared with 8.3% in 2004, the first year for which the data is available. Over this decade, there has been a steady progress towards the Europe 2020 target of 20%.
Bulgaria, Estonia, Lithuania and Sweden reached their Europe 2020 goal on renewables
Four out of the 28 EU Member States have already reached the level required to meet their national 2020 targets: Bulgaria (with a 19.0% share of renewables in 2013), Estonia (25.6%), Lithuania (23.0%) and Sweden (52.1%). Moreover, Romania (with a 23.9% share of renewables in 2013) and Italy (16.7%) are less than 0.5 percentage points from their 2020 targets. At the opposite end of the scale, the United Kingdom (9.9 percentage points from reaching its national 2020 objective), the Netherlands (9.5 pp), France (8.8 pp) and Ireland (8.2 pp) are the furthest away from their target.
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