EU grew 53% & cut emissions 23%

Change in real GDP, GHG emissions and GHG emission intensity in the EU, 1990-2016

(Source)

Between 1990 and 2016 the European Union has cut greenhouse gas emissions by 23% while at the same time growing its economy by 53%, proving again that environmental action need not negatively affect the financial bottom line.

The European Commission published its annual climate action progress report this week, Two years after Paris — Progress towards meeting the EU’s climate commitments, which highlighted the EU’s ability to increase economic growth while at the same time decreasing emissions — so much so that it remains on track to meet its 20% by 2020 greenhouse gas emissions reduction target.

On a large scale, the EU’s greenhouse gas emissions dropped by 23% while the economy grew by 53%. On a shorter scale, the EU economy grew by 1.9% in 2016 while greenhouse gas emissions decreased by 0.7%.

[Read more here; note that this is for all emissions in the whole economy, not just for electricity generation]

This is a remarkable achievement.  But it's not enough.

The world needs to get to zero emissions, or as close as we can, by 2050.  In the EU, the average decline in CO2 emissions since 1990 is about 1% a year.  To cut emissions by 90%  by 2050 from here, emissions need to fall by 7% per annum.  And each year that we delay means the annual rate of decline needs to be larger.  The costs of renewable electricity and transport are likely to drive a switch away from fossil fuels, and this switch is likely to accelerate exponentially as costs decline, so we may well achieve significant annual percentage declines by the mid 2020s.  All the same, the target is too low.  It was a brave goal when renewables were expensive--and all kudos to Europe for doing something despite that--but now renewables are cheaper than coal, it's simply not fast enough.