Greenhouse gas emissions from the European Union’s electricity sector fell 12 per cent last year, the sharpest drop since at least 1990, due to reduced coal-fired generation, a study has found.
The drop was led by a steep decline in coal power generation, which was replaced half by natural gas and half by renewable energy, according to fresh data just published.
Hard coal and lignite-fired power generation fell in every EU country, and by 24 per cent overall, according to fresh data on European power sector emissions, covering all EU member states, including the United Kingdom.
Emissions fell by 120 million tonnes in 2019, largely due to a sharp decrease in generation from hard coal and lignite-fired power plants which fell by 24 per cent across the EU, German policy institute Agora Energiewende and climate think-tank Sandbag said in a report released today.
“To a large extent, this collapse was triggered by an increase in the price of CO2 emissions permits to around €25 a tonne, making carbon-intensive coal electricity more expensive than electricity from natural gas, nuclear power and renewable energy,” the report said.
The downward trend in coal generation is forecast to continue this year, with a total of 21 EU member states and Britain having announced phase out plans for coal.
At the same time, the price of renewable energy continues to fall and carbon permit prices should remain quite high.
The share of renewable energy in electricity generation rose to 34.6 per cent in the EU, up 1.8 percentage points from 2018.
For the first time, wind and solar power plants delivered more electricity than coal-fired power plants across the EU.
“Europe is leading the world in rapidly replacing coal generation with wind and solar,” Dave Jones, European power analyst at Sandbag, said.
“As a result, CO2 emissions from the electricity sector in the past year have fallen faster than ever.”
The drop was sharper in 2019 than in any year since at least 1990, and could be attributed chiefly to Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, the UK, and Italy, which together accounted for 80 per cent of coal power decline, the two think tanks said.
If you look at Western Europe, 70 per cent of all coal plants will have been phased out in the next five years,” said Kristian Ruby, secretary-general of Eurelectric, a trade association.
“By the end of the 2020s, coal will remain in place only in a minority of markets such as Germany, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Czechia and Slovenia,” Mr Ruby added.
“Europe is leading the world in rapidly replacing coal generation with wind and solar,” said Dave Jones, a European power analyst at Sandbag.
“As a result, CO2 emissions from the electricity sector in the past year have fallen faster than ever,” Mr Jones said.
In May, the UK even switched off all its coal plants for two weeks, a first since the industrial revolution began.
At the same time the countries that have been most ambitious in expanding wind and solar power experienced the greatest drop in electricity market prices, the report said.
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