Renewables mitigate rising GHG emissions in Europe

COPENHAGEN, Denmark, June 28, 2006 (Refocus Weekly)

The increased use of wind, hydro and biomass for power generation in Europe helped to minimize the increase in continental GHG emissions from energy industries.

CO2 from electricity and heat production decreased by 3.2 megatonnes from 2003 and 2004, while power generation increased 2% to meet increasing demand within the EU-15, reports the European Environment Agency in its latest GHG inventory report. The use of coal in thermal power stations declined 1% and oil by 14%, while natural gas rose 9% and nuclear increased 1%.

The use of wind to generate electricity rose 32%, biomass rose 13% and hydro increased 4% to contribute to emission decreases from electricity and heat production.

For energy industries in total, GHG emissions “were almost stable” with a 0.1% increase, led by CO2 from oil refining which increased by 3.3% (3.9 million tonne).

This is the second year in a row that EU emissions have increased, and the EU-25 members report an increase of 18 megatonne (0.4%) from 2003 to 2004. Emissions from the EU-15 increased by 11.5 Mt (0.3 %) during the same period.

“An increase of 0.4% may appear small; however, the magnitude of GHG emissions is such that the actual increase is significant,” says Jacqueline McGlade of the EEA. “In 2004, about 11 tonnes of GHG were released on average per person in the EU-25. The 0.4 % increase is comparable to the amount of CO2 emissions released by 3 million people if they were to drive their cars around the earth.”

Spain and Italy reported the largest increases in absolute terms with 19.7 Mt (4.8%) and 5.1 Mt (0.9%) respectively. Spain’s increased output of CO2 was caused when utilities had to switch to fossil fuels to compensate for a shortfall in hydroelectric generation caused by drought.

During the same period, Germany reduced its GHG emissions by 9.1 Mt (0.9%), Denmark by 6 Mt (8.1%) and Finland by 4.2 Mt (4.9%).

Total GHG emissions for the EU-25 were 4.8% below 1990 levels (the base year for the Kyoto protocol) but the EU-15 has decreased emissions only by 38 Mt (0.9%) compared to that base year.

Road transport was the largest contributor to increased CO2 emissions, with levels 1.5% higher at 12 Mt.

“Despite the various policy initiatives, this report highlights that the trend is still going in the wrong direction,” says McGlade. “Europe must implement all planned policies and measures relating to reducing GHG emissions.”

The inventory report is the annual submission of the EU to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). It is more detailed on the EU-15 (pre-2004 member states) as these countries are covered by the reduction agreement in the Kyoto Protocol.


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