A Greener Future is Calling: Countries Speed up Plans to Lower Emissions

As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, gas crisis, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, 19 European countries have decided to accelerate their decarbonization plans, as well as scale down the use of fossil fuels. 

The plan, coined REPowerEU, is an effort to reduce dependence on Russian fossil fuels and work toward a greener future.

“The EU has put the energy transition on turbocharge, with governments getting serious about cutting out costly fossil fuels,” explains Pawel Czyzak, senior energy and climate data analyst at Ember. “There’s a consensus that ramping up wind and solar power quicker can help the EU head off multiple crises.”

The plan includes a 31% decrease in fossil fuel electricity compared to the older 2019 strategy and further expects that 63% of energy will be generated from shared renewables by 2030. Notably, the decarbonization shift is not only an issue of climate change but also of ensuring that European households have a stable and reliable source of energy.