Increase in amount of air emissions between Q3 and Q4 of 2021; lack of data for changes in installed wind and solar power. While new data is not yet available for the total amount of installed wind power capacity in the EU or for the EU’s total solar power capacity, new data is available...
Category: European Union News Brief and Action Alert
64% of European Union Youth Have Recently Taken Direct Action to Fight Climate Change
Between #FridaysForFuture and other distinct calls across the EU for climate action, the youth of the EU have demonstrated that they are willing to be agents of change. The youth climate movement in the EU is one of the reasons that the European Green Deal was made a priority in the EU’s 2019-2024 Political Guidelines...
The EU is in the Process of Phasing Out Natural Gas Usage
Each year, the EU uses significantly more natural gas than it produces, which has become especially problematic given the current Russia-Ukraine crisis and the EU’s dependency on Russia for natural gas. In 2020, which is the most recent year with data on EU natural gas usage, according to Eurostat, the EU used 15,182 thousand terajoules...
EU Recognizes the Need to Increase Investment in Renewable Energy
The Russian attack on Ukraine has been devastating on both a humanitarian and economic level. Yet, the way in which it has highlighted the EU’s reliance on Russian gas seems like it may have positive climate implications. More than a third of the EU’s gas supply came from Russia before the beginning of the crisis,...
European Union: Climate Progress Report
Indicators: Total Installed Offshore Wind Power Capacity (Semi-Annually) The use of wind power within the EU is a useful emissions indicator in that a greater use of renewable energy resources facilitates a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, a lessened dependency on fossil fuel markets and the diversification of energy supplies. Two reports are produced a...
Climate Justice in the European Union
HIGHLIGHTS Polluted Environments Affecting Racial Communities (Black, Asian, and Roma populations) NARRATIVE One notable climate justice issue that is prominent in the EU is racial equality. In the EU, one of the issues that racialized communities face is that they are often located in polluted environments that have a negative impact on their wellbeing....
European Union: The 2021 Climate Year in Review
HIGHLIGHTS Creation of European Climate Law The European Commission’s Fit for 55 Package The Next Generation EU Recovery Fund National Recovery and Resilience Plans NARRATIVE 2021 was a strong year for the EU regarding its revision of previous climate change policies and the strengthening of its commitment to reach goals that will help to...
Climate Mitigation Strategic Priorities for the European Union
Priorities More frequent and random monitoring of how countries are complying with their agreed upon goals under the Effort Sharing Regulation by the European Environment Agency Stricter policies guiding the EU ETS, which covers emissions from industry Do more to help countries in the global south decrease their emissions Increase its support for the states...
Climate Scorecard Progress Report for the EU
This report is in the form of memos from Climate Scorecard Country Managers to Patricia Espinosa, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework to Combat Climate Change (UNFCCC). Below is a description of the progress the country has made made in mitigating greenhouse gas emissions since the Paris Agreement was signed in 2015 and the...
EU Provides Clear, Comprehensive and Transparent Emissions Data
This Post was submitted by Climate Scorecard EU Manager Brittany Demogenes Best Organizational Sources: European Environmental Agency (EEA) In order to determine the EU’s total level of emissions, the EU requires Member States to monitor their individual emissions of various greenhouse gases (GHG) and report these statistics. EU Member States are required to...