Europe's energy and climate predicament: Pursuing 100% renewables as a remedy

The European Union (EU) is navigating a complex landscape of climate and energy challenges, as it strives to lead in the global race for clean energy technologies while addressing the sharp rise in energy prices and the impending closure of coal power plants.

In a significant stride, the CO footprint of the EU electricity grid has been reduced by half, from 501 grams of CO emissions per kilowatt-hour in 1990 to 251 grams in 2022. However, under the current national plans, the EU is facing the prospect of failing to meet its climate targets.

The EU is in sharp global competition with the US and China on leadership in clean energy technologies. Yet, the EU faces challenges in scaling up technologies, with the technology readiness of small modular reactors being low, and investors withdrawing after initial projects failed technically and commercially.

Renewable energy investments have seen a surge, increasing by more than 80% since 2019, reaching €330 billion in 2022. Several EU member states, including Germany, are planning to increase the role of renewable energies in their National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs) to meet EU-wide climate goals.

However, the construction of new nuclear reactors in Europe is typically three times longer and more expensive than expected. Moreover, almost half of the nuclear fuel currently used in the EU comes from Russia or its ally Kazakhstan, creating geostrategic risks.

Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technologies, which promise to absorb CO from the atmosphere and store it permanently, have a negligible potential to mitigate emissions for energy supply. No commercially operating plant in the EU currently has a successful CCS application. CCS applications require a sufficiently high concentration of CO in the flue gas, limiting their deployment to big coal power plants or fossil gas turbines.

CCS cannot be applied to the significant emissions from small boilers that burn fossil gas and oil for heating buildings, nor to the big chunk of fossil fuel emissions from cars and trucks with internal combustion engines. Thus, the infrastructure for transporting CO from fossil fuel-fired plants to storage locations, such as under the North Sea, does not exist.

The EU is facing a patchwork of climate and energy policies rather than a masterplan. Over 400 emergency measures have been implemented by the EU in response to the sharp rise of energy prices since the end of 2021. The von der Leyen Commission has put forth the European Green Deal, a flagship project aimed at reaching net zero emissions by 2050.

The US and China are currently faster and more successful in attracting companies and scaling up technologies. The EU is facing challenges due to the climate crisis and energy price explosion, with all coal power plants in the EU planned to be shut down by around 2030. Public support for fossil fuels reached an all-time high of €123 billion in 2022.

As the EU continues to grapple with these challenges, it remains committed to its goal of achieving climate neutrality by 2050, with renewable energies playing an increasingly important role in its energy mix. The expansion of solar, wind, and hydropower is expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions significantly, contributing to the EU's efforts to reach its climate targets and secure a sustainable energy future.