Green Energy in Europe by 2030
The European Union (EU) aims to be climate-neutral by 2050. This means significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions while also absorbing carbon through natural ecosystems such as forests, soil, and oceans. To achieve this 2050 target, the EU has developed a series of policies known as “the Green Deal”, whose primary goal is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to at least 55% by 2030, compared to 1990 levels.
Energy, transport, and heating are among the largest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions in the EU, and as a way of meeting the 2030 Green Deal targets, the EU is promoting presumably low-carbon technologies such as wind turbines, solar photovoltaic panels, electric vehicles, and heat pumps.
These low-carbon technologies will require an increased supply of raw materials, such as lithium, copper, indium, gallium and rare earth metals. On the next page, you will see 5 technologies that the European Union is placing its policy focus on, and an indication of the quantity of raw materials that will be needed for the various technologies.
How to use the Green Energy 2030 Simulator
More about the EU Green Deal
The EU proposes that by 2030 the emission of greenhouse gases from fossil fuel sources such as oil, gas and coal should have reduced by 55% while renewable energy sources such as wind and solar energy should have increased to at least 40%, compared to 1990 levels. The EU also aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the transport sector and buildings by producing more electric vehicles for European roads and installing extra heat pumps in residential buildings by 2030.
To ensure these targets are achieved, the EU is focusing its policy interventions on technologies that produce low or no carbon emissions. A summary of the 5 technologies and the raw materials needed for their production is provided below:
Delivering on the Green Deal therefore involves a transition towards clean energy sources, which rests on 3 major pillars namely:
- ensuring secure and affordable energy supply within the EU
- developing a fully integrated, interconnected and digital EU energy market
- making energy efficiency a priority; improving the energy performance of buildings and developing a power sector that is largely based on renewable energy
More about the Green Energy 2030 Simulator
The Green Energy Simulator is a research tool developed by University College Dublin to assess how people make decisions and choices on complex social issues. This research is a completely anonymised study and is being undertaken to explore complex decision making behaviour in individuals as social actors.