WWF has launched a new report – Putting the EU on Track for 100% Renewable Energy – which shows where Europe needs to be by 2030 in order to reach a fully renewable energy system by 2050. It comes just as the European Commission is beginning to consider post-2020 climate and energy plans.
By 2030, the EU could be reducing its energy use by more than a third and generate almost half of the remainder from renewables. The post-2020 climate and energy policies needed to deliver this vision would help the EU to reduce its €573bn external fossil fuel bill and cut its greenhouse gas emissions in half.
Coming amid an increasingly active debate over what should follow current EU climate and energy legislation (the 20-20-20 package ), WWF’s report adapts the WWF Global 2050 Energy Scenario to the EU27 level .In 2011, WWF released The Energy Report based on the specially commissioned ECOFYS Global Energy Scenario. The report showed how, by 2050, the planet’s entire energy needs could be met from renewable sources. The first step to reaching this goal is to limit energy use in absolute terms. The second step is to scale up energy supply from current renewable generation technologies (prioritising their delivery in order of sustainability – solar, wind, water, geothermal, and only then bio-energy under strict conditions.
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