A policy study from Ember and the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) reveals EU national strategies are raising their renewables ambition, resulting in a greater reduction in fossil fuel capacity by 2030.
The latest national announcements put the EU on course for 63% of electricity from renewables in 2030, up from 53% in the previous plans.
This requires reducing plans for fossil-fired electricity in 2030 by a third compared to plans from two years ago.
The study noted that the renewables increase comes as EU countries look to reduce dependence on Russian imports and protect themselves from the skyrocketing cost of fossil gas.
EU-wide ambition has set the target even higher, with the REPowerEU strategy aiming for 69% of electricity from renewables by 2030.
Overall, 19 European governments have released plans that will accelerate decarbonisation, including some of those most dependent on Russian fossil fuel imports.
Recently announced national policies will see 595 terawatt hours (TWh) of fossil fuel generation in 2030, a steep drop from plans published just two years ago for 867TWh in 2030.
“The EU has put the energy transition on turbocharge, with governments getting serious about cutting out costly fossil fuels,” said Pawel Czyzak, Ember’s senior energy and climate data analyst.
“There’s a consensus that ramping up wind and solar power quicker can help the EU head off multiple crises,” he added.
Ambition on energy transition has “shifted quickly”, with some of the biggest importers of Russian fossil fuels are now seeing the largest jumps in ambition, noted Ember and CREA.
Germany has raised its 2030 renewable energy target to 80% from 62%, the Netherlands now plans to double offshore wind installation to 21GW by 2030 and France is now aiming for 100GW in solar farms in 2050, up from 14GW currently.
Five countries have announced new policies to further decarbonise sectors like transport, industry and heating.
The EU-wide REPowerEU strategy also makes this a focus, with increased energy efficiency and heating measures aimed at tackling cost, security and climate challenges.