Europe's energy transition is well underway
http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-17-161_en.htm[font face=Serif]European Commission - Press release
[font size=5]Europe's energy transition is well underway[/font]
Brussels, 1 February 2017
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The Second Report on the State of the Energy Union shows that the modernisation of the European Union economy and the transition to a low-carbon era are happening.
In terms of greenhouse gas emissions, energy efficiency and renewable energy, Europe is on track to reach its 2020 targets. To further drive this process, the Commission today is announcing a new Energy Union tour.[/font]
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For the Energy Union, 2016 was the year of delivery where the vision of the
Energy Union Framework Strategy was further translated into concrete legislative and non-legislative initiatives, above all with the "
Clean Energy for all Europeans" package presented on 30 November 2016.
The EU as a whole has continued to make good progress on delivering the Energy Union objectives, in particular on the 2020 energy and climate targets (see
MEMO/17/162 and
MEMO/17/163). It has already achieved its 2020 final energy consumption target. The same is true for greenhouse gas emissions: in 2015, EU greenhouse gas emissions were 22% below the 1990 level. The EU is also on track in the renewable sector where based on 2014 data the share of renewables reached 16 % of the EU's gross final energy consumption. Another important trend is that the EU continues to successfully decouple its economic growth from its greenhouse gas emissions. During the 1990-2015 period, the EU's combined Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 50 %, while total emissions decreased by 22 %.
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