Renewable energy helps savings in emissions
A new report has revealed that greenhouse gas emission savings had a compound annual growth rate of 8.8% between 2009 and 2012 due to renewable energy consumption.
The findings in the report ‘Renewable energy in European Union for climate change mitigation: Greenhouse gas emission savings due to renewable energy’ were released by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC), with the progress attributed towards particular renewable energy developments in Germany, Sweden, France, Italy and Spain; these EU member states collectively recorded nearly 66% of total savings.
The JRC found that renewable energy consumption grew in the electricity, cooling/heating and transport sectors. The report estimates that in 2012, when total greenhouse gas emissions reached the equivalent of 4,546Mt CO2, the deployment of all renewables in the EU avoided the equivalent of 716Mt CO2 emissions.
The document also says that the highest contribution by renewables in climate change mitigation for the EU in 2012 came from renewable electricity. Electricity covered 64% of the savings due to high penetration of wind and solar power, and this was followed by renewable heating and cooling (31%) and renewable transport (5%).
The assessment is based on data reported by EU member states in 2011 and 2013 progress reports, as required by EU legislation on renewable energy. The JRC is funded by Horizon 2020; the full report can be read here.
