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How is Europe fighting against climate change?

Page Last modified 26 Oct 2023
3 min read
This page was archived on 26 Oct 2023 with reason: A new version has been published
To prevent the worst impacts of climate change, European countries have developed national strategies, policies and accompanying measures to mitigate climate change. These include for example targets for greenhouse gas emissions in key sectors of the economy, promoting the use of renewable energy and low carbon fuels or efficiency improvements of buildings.

Key messages


  • The number of national policies and measures, reported by Member States to reduce GHG, increased by 11 % between 2019 and 2021. Most of the new reported policies and measures are at the planning stage.
  • Most climate change mitigation measures reported in 2021 are economic instruments (e.g., subsidies or feed-in tariffs) or regulations (e.g., energy efficiency standards), primary targeting energy-related GHG emissions.
  • The information reported on national policies and measures is becoming better and more complete, in particular on the GHG emission savings expected from these measures (ex ante). However, quantitative information on the emission savings actually achieved by implemented measures (ex post) remains insufficiently reported.

 

 

The European countries have reported altogether more than 2 200 policies and measures that focus on reducing or preventing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from various sectors, including the energy and transport sectors, agriculture, industrial processes, forestry and waste management.

 

The number of national policies and measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions increased by 11 % between 2019 and 2021

  

According to the EEA's recent analysis, current policies and measures are expected to deliver a 34 % reduction in GHG emissions by 2030 compared to 1990, while implementing all reported planned (additional) policies could the total net reduction to 41 %. Despite this good progress, further effort will be needed by the EU and its Member States to meet the 55 % net GHG reduction target by 2030.

 

Total number of existing and planned policies and measures reported by the EU27 in 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2021, and individual countries in 2021

 

Note: *non-EU countries

Source: Reportnet uploads for obligation "National greenhouse gas policies and measures" provided by the European Topic Centre on Climate Change Mitigation and Energy (ETC/CME), 2021.

Consult the latest ETC/CME report: 'Overview of reported national greenhouse gas policies and measures in Europe in 2021' for a complete analysis on national efforts to reduce GHG emissions.


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