Pollution Fell in Europe Last Year Because of Cheap Gas
Pollution Fell in Europe Last Year Because of Cheap Gas
(Bloomberg) -- Europe’s emissions fell at a pace of 8.3% last year as power generators switched to natural gas from coal and mild temperatures cut energy demand.
The drop in greenhouse gases in the European Union’s carbon market was faster than the 6% expected in a survey of analysts. The decline was estimated by BloombergNEF analyst Jahn Olsen and based on preliminary data for last year published Wednesday by the European Commission. The data was about 90% complete.
In 2019, generators were switching to gas as the cost of the cleaner fuel plunged. That made burning coal relatively unprofitable.
“The EU emissions trading system is still driving hard coal off the power
system in a manner that likely has no historical precedent,” said Matthew Gray, head of power and utilities at Carbon Tracker Initiative, a research group.
This year, the coronavirus pandemic has cut pollution levels even further. Policymakers across the region have adopted unprecedented spending packages in a bid to ease the virus’s impact on businesses and workers.
The value of carbon allowances plunged 25% in March as global equities and commodities markets have been hammered by the coronavirus outbreak and a collapse in demand for fuel, as people around the globe remain under lockdown.
“It’s showing that we are doing the right thing in cutting power emissions,” said Dave Jones, electricity analyst at Ember, the environmental group. “Efforts to cut industrial emissions need to be stepped up.”
Analysts in the survey expect EU carbon market emissions will decline 15% this year.
The bloc is considering whether to boost its emissions-reduction target in 2030 to about 55% below 1990 levels, deeper than the current goal of 40%.
The steepening trajectory of declines in pollution “is giving confidence to policy makers that we can set ourselves ambitious targets,” Jones said.
©2020 Bloomberg L.P.