A four-percent drop in greenhouse gas emissions in 2019 and the green effects of the pandemic will help the EU meet two of its three 2020 climate goals, a report published Monday showed.
Outlined in 2007 and adopted in 2009, the three goals include a reduction of
greenhouse gas emissions by at least 20 percent from 1990 levels, a share of at least 20 percent for renewables in energy consumption, and a 20-percent improvement in
energy efficiency.
According to the European Environment Agency report, the two first goals will be met in 2020, while the third one, on energy efficiency, is not expected to be reached.
In 2019, emissions in the EU—excluding Britain—decreased by four percent year-on-year.
That was the second-biggest annual decline after 2009 when the region was mired in a
financial crisis, according to the EEA, and brought the region's overall emissions 24 percent below the 1990 level.
Meanwhile, EEA preliminary figures show that renewables accounted for 19.4 percent of energy consumed in the EU in 2019, close to the 20-percent target.
"There are strong indications that the economic downturn in 2020 has sharply reduced overall energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions in 2020, in particular in the
transport sector," the agency said.
But while "the share of energy consumed from renewable sources likely... increased," the EEA noted that the effects from the pandemic may "be short-lived."
And although the renewables target was expected to be met EU-wide, 14 member states had yet to meet their national targets, including France, Germany and Spain.
The sub-target of reaching 10 percent renewable energy in the transport sector remained "tenuous". In 2018, the level was only 8.3 percent, according to the most recent data.
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