EEA Trends and Projections: EU greenhouse gas emissions see significant drop in 2023

[OKIsItJustMe]

https://www.eea.europa.eu/en/newsroom/news/eea-trends-and-projections

EEA Trends and Projections: EU greenhouse gas emissions see significant drop in 2023
Press release Published 31 Oct 2024

Desmond McCormack, Climate Change PIX /EEA

Total net greenhouse gas emissions in the European Union dropped by 8% last year, marking significant progress towards climate neutrality for the EU. The huge drop was led by a significant decline in coal use and growth of renewable energy sources and supported by reduced energy consumption across Europe, according to estimated figures included in the latest European Environment Agency (EEA) ‘Trends and Projections’ report published today. The annual EEA check-up on EU progress on its energy and climate targets stresses that EU Member States will need to sustain this rate of progress to achieve Europe’s climate and energy targets.

In 2023, EU total net greenhouse gas emissions decreased to 37% below 1990 levels according to preliminary figures in the EEA Trends and Projections report. After two years of slower progress against the backdrop of recovery from the COVID crisis and impact of the energy crisis, the EU is resuming its strong downward trajectory in emissions, moving towards climate neutrality. At the same time, sustained progress will be needed towards 2030 and beyond, the report says.

The EU Climate Law sets ambitious targets for greenhouse gas emission reductions - a net 55% reduction below 1990 levels by 2030 and climate neutrality by 2050, to deliver European commitments under the international Paris Agreement. This target includes net removals from the so-called land use, land use change and forestry (LULUCF) sector as well as emissions from international aviation and maritime transport activities regulated under EU law. The European Commission has also recommended a 90% net reduction target for 2040.

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Renewables take bigger role

The accelerating decarbonisation of the European economy has only been possible due to the rapid expansion of renewable energy, paired with the reduced use of fossil fuels. According to EEA estimates, the share of renewable energy has grown from 10% in 2005 to an estimated 24% of the EU’s gross final energy consumption by 2023. Further, the EU has managed to continue reducing its energy consumption: primary energy use has fallen by 19% since 2005, while final energy consumption saw a 11% reduction during the same timeframe, according to early estimates for 2023.

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Wait! It isn’t all done with fission⁉️

[NNadir]

1. That's a strange claim if one looks at the data at...

...the Mauna Loa CO₂ Observatory.

I've been monitoring that data for many years, downloading it, and performing calculations with it.

The graphics, relatively simple for even a 7th grader to read, on the "growth rate" page demonstrates that that the 3.36 ppm increase over 2022 is the largest ever observed.

Until 2024, 2023 was the worst increase ever recorded, but as I'm monitoring the weekly data for 2024, it's immediately clear that 2024 will blow even 2023 away.

But let's not distract from happy talk. Our critics of the nuclear industry love to prance around on how their attacks on the industry have managed to arrest its growth and they brag how in the USA they managed to tear up vast stretches of virgin land to make their expensive useless solar fantasies make more energy than clean compact nuclear energy, albeit in an unreliable fashion requiring backup by fossil fuels. What is interesting about their cheering is of course they are spectacularly uninterested and unconcerned with attacking fossil fuels.

The data in the planetary atmosphere cannot be changed by wishful thinking.

As a professional analytical chemist, I am very impressed with the scrupulous analytical methods the observatory uses to measure the failure of reactionary fantasies to make a dent in this disaster before us. Since I joined DU in 2002, the concentration of carbon dioxide has gone up around 50 ppm.

There are people here who whine that nuclear energy is "too expensive." This same set of people are disinterested in the question of whether extreme weather driven by extreme global heating is "too expensive."

Excuse me if I'm a little jaded about cheering for oblivious rhetoric that is clearly disconnected from reality.

It's intellectual homunulus stuff, pretending everything is going great.

We fucked the future with Trumpian scale dishonesty.

History will not forgive us nor should it.

[OKIsItJustMe]

2. You must be right (of course!)

Excuse me if I'm a little jaded about cheering for oblivious rhetoric that is clearly disconnected from reality.

You’re not jaded, like many you simply deny facts which don’t fit with your preferred narrative.

[OKIsItJustMe]

3. Exposed: The smear tactics against wind and solar