The E.U. Is Actually Making Significant Climate Progress

The European Union’s greenhouse gas emissions dropped by eight percent in 2023, a course correction following a couple of years of post-Covid recovery. The 27 member states are collectively making real progress — though still not enough.

That eight percent drop means the bloc’s net emissions dropped to 37 percent below 1990 levels, according to the European Environment Agency’s (EEA) Trends and Projections Report, released on Thursday. The EU Climate Law includes an ambitious target, though: That 37 percent number needs to reach 55 percent below 1990 levels by 2030, which these days does not feel so far away anymore. As it stands, national policies likely won’t quite get there.

The projection right now is that the group will reach a 43 percent drop — though that doesn’t include some planned but not-yet-launched climate measures. Throw those in and they reach 49 percent, which the EEA said would be “in the target scope” for the law’s requirement. And a few countries haven’t yet updated their plans, which could get the EU even closer.

“As our recent European climate risk assessment revealed, the impact of climate change is accelerating,” said EEA executive director Leena Ylä-Mononen, in a press release accompanying the report. “This leaves us no choice but to strengthen our resilience to climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”

The bulk of the progress the report showed comes from increasing penetration of renewable energy and the continued phase-out of coal power. The energy sector saw an emissions decline of 19 percent just between 2022 and 2023; in terms of total energy used, renewables represented over 24 percent of the mix, up from 10 percent in 2005. The industrial sector also contributed, though to a lesser degree.

This is good news overall, especially in the global context of stalled progress and stagnating ambition. The question as COP29 approaches is whether other rich countries can follow suit with their updated climate plans, and if they can actually deliver the money needed in the developing world to spread the progress elsewhere.