Clean Energy and Recent Initiatives

On July 8, the EU adopted various clean energy strategies to address the more than 75 percent of Europe’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions due to the production and use of energy. In 2017, only 17.5 percent of the Union’s energy came from renewable sources. The clean energy strategies will combat this directly by investing in renewable energy and increasing distribution networks efficiency. The Commission also plans to decarbonize the gas sector and capitalize on Europe’s offshore wind energy potential. Through these strategies, the EU hopes to develop a power sector based on renewable sources and ensure secure and affordable access to energy for its citizens.

The European Commission released its most recent initiatives just 2 weeks ago, on Oct. 14, 2020. The first of these, the renovation wave, intends to renovate European buildings to make them more sustainable, creating more than 160,000 additional green jobs soon, which would help nearly 34 million Europeans unable to pay to heat their homes. A second initiative released will attempt to curb emissions of methane, a Greenhouse Gas more than 84 times more potent than carbon dioxide. The last initiative released was the Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability, which will better protect the environment and its citizens by banning and phasing out many of the most harmful chemicals in consumer products and increasing regulation surrounding many other substances.