Europe can cut demand for oil and gas to become the world’s first climate-neutral continent by 2050, a major new study from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) revealed this month.
The PIK paper says achieving the main objective of the EU Green Deal – as well as greater energy independence – will demand a rapid expansion of renewables, electrification, and the roll out of technologies including carbon capture and hydrogen.
Scale is critical, with the report confirming that ‘electricity generation from wind and solar must increase seven-fold’. Hit these numbers, though, and demand for oil and gas could drop by 60% – reducing vulnerability to global energy shocks.
“The path to EU climate neutrality by 2050 is still feasible, as long as the EU now shapes the period up to 2040 with ambitious policies,” says Renato Rodrigues, PIK researcher and lead author of the study. “Successful decarbonisation can make the EU economically stronger and strategically more independent.”
What this report shows is that with the right policy direction and investment, Europe’s green transition is not only a win for the climate, it is a strategic one as well.
The study carried out at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) is published in Nature Communications.
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