In 2024, 46.9% of net electricity generated in the EU came from renewable energy sources. Among EU countries, Denmark had the highest share of renewables in its net electricity generation with 88.4%, coming mostly from wind, followed by Portugal (87.5%, mostly wind and hydro) and Croatia (73.7%, mostly hydro). The lowest shares of renewables were [...]
By Filipe Araùjo, Deputy Mayor of Porto, Portugal and Vice President of Energy Cities, one of EUSEW partner organisations With the new EU Institutions taking office, it seems that the main discourse has shifted from the EU Green Deal to competitiveness. This new narrative presents both a challenge and an opportunity for European cities. We [...]
By Diana Yordanova, Communications Director at Housing Europe, one of EUSEW partner organisations This opinion editorial is produced in co-operation with the European Sustainable Energy Week 2025. See ec.europa.eu/eusew for open calls. As housing affordability pressures people living in Europe's major cities, the EU Affordable Housing Initiative is shifting to another gear. In its second [...]
By Luke Haywood, Policy Manager for Climate and Energy and Hannah O’Sullivan, Associate Communications Officer for Climate and Energy: European Environmental Bureau, one of EUSEW partner organisations In less than a year, billions of euros from the Social Climate Fund (SCF) will land in EU governments’ pockets, but some countries are already calling for a [...]
By Simone Accornero, EUSEW Young Energy Ambassador, who states that in 2023, the amount of renewable energy purchased by businesses and corporations in Europe surged by over 52%, yet questions persist about the true impact this has had on emission reductions and the acceleration of the deployment of new renewable energy capacity. This article explores [...]
By Eliza Barnea, EUSEW Young Energy Ambassador focuses on the need for a Green and Social Deal in the EU to ensure a just and equitable green transition, balancing climate action with social protection for vulnerable groups. This opinion editorial is produced in co-operation with the European Sustainable Energy Week 2025. See ec.europa.eu/eusew for open [...]
By Nathalie Hemeleers – Director of EU Affairs at the Solar Impulse Foundation, one of EUSEW partner organisations, highlighting the critical role of energy efficiency, emphasising its importance in driving decarbonisation, competitiveness, and resource optimisation, innovative solutions and supportive financing and policies. This opinion editorial is produced in co-operation with the European Sustainable Energy Week 2025. [...]
The Commission is pleased to announce that the overarching theme of this year’s European Sustainable Energy Week (EUSEW) will be “Powering a fair and competitive green transition”. Scheduled for 10 to 12 June 2025 in Brussels and online, the 19th edition of Europe's largest annual gathering focusing on renewables and efficient energy use – and [...]
On 6-7 May 2025, the Future Energy Congress, organised by the ‘With Energy About Law’ ["Z energią o prawie"] Association, will be held for the fourth time in Toruń. This is an event that attracts key experts, leaders and innovators of the energy sector. The city of Copernicus will become an arena for inspiring debates [...]
NATO Foreign Ministers concluded two days of meetings in Brussels in December, focusing on countering Russia’s escalating hostile actions and safeguarding the Alliance's security. The discussions underscored NATO's commitment to addressing Russian sabotage, cyber-attacks, and energy blackmail, which have targeted NATO countries and destabilized global security. Secretary General Mark Rutte highlighted that Russia and its [...]
Europe wants to build lots more renewables to strengthen its energy security and industrial competitiveness. The geopolitical situation poses new questions around the security of these assets. At its Annual Roundtable on Energy Security NATO confirmed its determination to protect critical energy infrastructure. The war in Ukraine has radically changed the threat landscape across Europe, [...]
EU researchers are helping policymakers reconcile competing demands in a region full of natural resources, beauty and tradition. By Bárbara Pinho Above the Arctic Circle in Finland’s municipality of Inari, the largest and most sparsely populated region of Finnish Lapland, leading sources of income are tourism and the cold-climate testing of cars, tyres and components. The [...]
Researchers are helping residents across the EU opt for clean energy. By Helen Massy-Beresford Europe has a common goal of clean energy and numerous paths towards it. One of the routes leads through playgrounds in Berlin. Outdoor children’s spaces in the German capital have been a focal point of efforts to inform women about the [...]
Cargo ships and cruise liners may soon be harnessing the power of wind and waves to reduce their carbon emissions thanks to EU-funded researchers. By Tom Cassauwers In August 2023, a five-year old cargo ship, Pyxis Ocean, made history when it set sail from Shanghai, China, heading towards the southern Brazilian port of Paranaguá. A [...]
Education and skills are increasingly becoming decisive factors for the success of Europe’s Clean Industrial Deal. The European wind industry is set to expand from 370,000 jobs today to 600,000 jobs by 2030. This creates a serious skills gap: over the next 6 years more than 200,000 new wind workers need to be recruited and [...]
The situation in the Baltic Sea, one of the five most polluted seas in the world, has not improved in recent years, but efforts of various public groups, public authorities and businesses can yield results. Curonian Nord offshore wind farm, currently under development by an international green energy company, Ignitis Renewables, can also benefit the [...]
GWO and IRENA will initiate discussions of how global standards can best support skilled workforce development, in line with 2030 targets. Co-publication of the Jobs4RE Workforce Training Guidelines for the Wind Industry is set to follow in 2025. Global Wind Organisation (GWO) is combining forces with the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) to present “Jobs4RE- [...]
In the second quarter of 2024, the EU economy greenhouse gas emissions were estimated at 790 million tonnes of CO2-equivalents (CO2-eq), a 2.6% decrease compared with the same quarter of 2023 (812 million tonnes of CO2-eq). The EU’s gross domestic product (GDP) registered a 1.0% increase in the second quarter of 2024, compared with the same quarter of 2023. This information comes from data [...]
As the COP29 UN Climate Change Conference opens in Baku, Azerbaijan, from November 11 to 22, climate leaders, including the European Union (EU), gather to address one of the most pressing challenges of our time: securing a sustainable, climate-friendly future. This year, the summit is poised to prioritize climate finance, critical emissions reductions, and renewable [...]
The European Commission has published the 2024 Climate Action Progress Report, showing that net EU greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions fell by 8.3% in 2023 compared to the previous year. This is the largest annual drop in decades, with the exception of 2020 when COVID-19 led to emission cuts of 9.8%. Net GHG emissions are now 37% below 1990 levels, while GDP [...]
The United Nations’ latest NDC Synthesis Report reveals a sobering reality: current national climate commitments fall drastically short of the reductions required to limit global warming to 1.5°C. Despite recent efforts, nations’ existing Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), even if fully implemented, would yield only a 2.6% decrease in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, relative to [...]
A recent report by Svensk Vindenergi, updated from June 2023, offers a crucial lens on the investment climate for offshore wind in Europe, spotlighting significant differences across various markets. With data covering 11 countries around the Baltic and North Seas, this report underscores Sweden's unique and somewhat isolated stance in terms of regulatory and investment [...]
EU electricity market returned to a much more stable and predictable situation in the second quarter of 2024 relative to the same period in 2023, according to the new Quarterly Reports for electricity as well as gas markets published by the European Commission on 24 October. The reports highlight the acceleration of a number of [...]
The Government of the Republic of Lithuania has approved the updated National Energy and Climate Plan 2021-2030 (NECP) submitted by the Ministries of Energy and Environment. In line with the requirements of the European Union Regulation on the Governance of the Energy Union and Climate Action, the updated document sets out targets and measures that [...]
Tripling global renewables is the single biggest action the world can take for the climate in this decade. An analysis of 2030 national wind targets shows that governments are already planning for a doubling, but fall short of a tripling. This report analyses national 2030 wind targets for the power sector, evaluating them against what [...]
In an exclusive survey conducted by The Guardian, hundreds of leading climate scientists from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have revealed alarming predictions about the trajectory of global temperatures. The consensus among these experts indicates that the world is poised to surpass the critical 1.5-degree Celsius target set to mitigate climate change, with [...]
Today, EcoVadis, WindEurope and five leading wind energy industry organisations - ENGIE, Hitachi Energy, Siemens Gamesa, Statkraft and Vestas – announce the launch of the ‘Wind Energy Initiative’. The Initiative aims to accelerate the uptake of sustainable practices by fostering strong collaboration between trading partners and amplifying positive impacts across their value chains. European politicians, [...]
Investments in wind energy in Europe more than doubled in 2023 compared to 2022, driven by record financing of offshore wind projects. An easing of inflationary pressures, greater certainty in electricity markets, and improved tariff indexation by Governments created a more favourable investment climate. Despite a tightening of financing conditions, Europe invested a record €48bn [...]
From 20-22 March more than 12,000 people gather in Bilbao for the WindEurope Annual Event 2024. This comes at a time of growing optimism for Europe’s wind industry. Investments in new wind farms are up. Auction volumes are at record levels. More permits are coming through. The supply chain is returning to profit. Government action [...]
International green energy company Ignitis Renewables supports the expedition Save the Baltic Sea and invites to pay attention to the ecological state of the sea and work together in preserving the Baltic Sea. During the nine-month walk around the Baltic Sea, the expedition and its partners will invite citizens, governments, organisations and businesses to take [...]
Europe is facing an unprecedented climate crisis, according to a new report by the European Environment Agency (EEA). The first ever European Climate Risk Assessment (EUCRA) report paints a stark picture: extreme heat, drought, wildfires, and flooding, phenomena we've increasingly encountered in recent years, are poised to intensify. These are not distant threats but immediate challenges [...]
Global clean energy deployment scaled new heights in 2023, with annual additions of solar PV and wind growing 85% and 60% respectively. Capacity additions for these two technologies reached almost 540 GW, with China accounting for the majority of both. Clean energy deployment in 2023, however, remained too concentrated in advanced economies and China, with [...]
Global energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions rose less strongly in 2023 than the year before even as total energy demand growth accelerated, new IEA analysis shows, with continued expansion of solar PV, wind, nuclear power and electric cars helping the world avoid greater use of fossil fuels. Without clean energy technologies, the global increase in [...]
Current developments have alarmingly revealed the extent of corporate lobbying in negotiations on safeguarding the climate. Take COP28, where a record number of fossil fuel lobbyists made an appearance, or the upcoming COP29 being hosted by Azerbaijan, a major oil and gas exporting country. This shows how urgent it is to protect these discussions from [...]
SMHI has been granted a research grant from the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency and the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate to investigate, in collaboration with, among others, OX2, whether artificial oxygenation can contribute to restoring parts of the Baltic Sea that are currently oxygen-free. The oxygen gas is a by-product from hydrogen production at two [...]
Co-chaired by France and Ireland, meeting of ministers from around the world delivers mandates for IEA on membership talks with India, opening a regional centre in Singapore, launching a critical minerals security programme, and leading on implementation of COP28 outcomes. Energy leaders from around the world met in Paris this week for the International Energy [...]
The EU built 17 GW of new wind energy in 2023, slightly up on 2022 - and more than ever in a single year in fact. But that’s not enough to reach the EU’s 2030 targets. The EU should be building 30 GW of new wind every year between now and 2030. The actions set [...]
World added 50% more renewable capacity in 2023 than in 2022 and next 5 years will see fastest growth yet, but lack of financing for emerging and developing economies is key issue. The world’s capacity to generate renewable electricity is expanding faster than at any time in the last three decades, giving it a real [...]
On 13th December 2023, COP28 concluded with a historic agreement by 198 Parties to deliver a new era of climate action. The Parties agreed a landmark text named The UAE Consensus, that sets out an ambitious climate agenda to keep 1.5°C within reach. The UAE Consensus calls on Parties to transition away from fossil fuels [...]
The EU Member States agreed on their position for the upcoming negotiations with the European Parliament on the Net Zero Industry Act. The European Parliament adopted its own position in November. The Council and Parliament diverge on critical points as they head the final negotiations to be finalised by the end of Q1 2024. It [...]
At COP28, global leaders committed to tripling renewable power capacity by 2030, following the recommendations of IRENA’s flagship report World Energy Transitions Outlook 2023. Amongst renewable energy sources, offshore wind plays a significant role in accelerating the energy transition and achieving the tripling target. According to the report, the world must install nearly 500 gigawatts [...]
Renewables represent key solutions to decelerate the impacts of climate change and limit global warming to 1.5°C. Offshore wind has witnessed a surge of interest from the energy community as a means to support the decarbonisation of energy systems and end-use sectors, owing to its considerable energy potential and cost-competitiveness. According to IRENA statistics, a [...]
Launched at COP28, Ocean Energy Pathway (OEP) is a new global non-profit that accelerates the global clean energy transition by unlocking the tremendous potential of offshore wind power. Ocean Energy Pathway (OEP) is a flagship initiative supported by the newly announced Ocean Resilience and Climate Alliance (ORCA), a $250 million+ USD funder collaborative focused on [...]
At the World Climate Action Summit in Dubai today, President Ursula von der Leyen launched the Global Pledge on Renewables and Energy Efficiency together with the COP28 Presidency and 118 countries. This initiative, first proposed by the Commission President at the Major Economies Forum in April, sets global targets to triple the installed capacity of [...]
A first-of-its kind report from WWF and the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) shows the potential risks and benefits of a rapid shift to renewable energy for people and nature. A major transformation of our global energy system is crucial to ensuring a safer and livable future. A new report from WWF and the BCG provides [...]
The Danish Energy Agency has concluded the Power-to-X Tender and six projects will win the State Aid. Four different companies are behind the six winning projects and can now start building up the production of green hydrogen in Denmark. The Danish Energy Agency can now reveal the winners of the first Danish Power-to-X (PtX) tender [...]
First-of-its-kind global study finds the world must add or replace 80 million km of grids by 2040, equal to all grids globally today, to meet national climate targets and support energy security Efforts to tackle climate change and ensure reliable supplies of electricity could be put at risk unless policy makers and companies quickly take [...]
RWE, one of the world leaders in offshore wind, has launched its first global “Floating Wind Co-use Competition”. The company is looking for solutions to promote co-existence with other sea users and biodiversity enhancement. RWE is dedicated to accelerating the development and demonstration of innovative and sustainable solutions that be specifically applied to floating offshore [...]
Update of IEA’s landmark Net Zero Roadmap shows greater ambition and implementation, supported by stronger international cooperation, will be critical to reach climate goals. Driving greenhouse gas emissions from the world’s energy sector to net zero and limiting global warming to 1.5 °C remains possible due to the record growth of key clean energy technologies, [...]
Momentum behind low-emissions hydrogen continues to grow despite the slow roll-out of financial incentives and stubborn cost pressures that threaten to delay projects, says new IEA report. But production levels can still increase substantially by 2030 if all announced projects are realised and greater efforts are made on encouraging uptake. The number of announced projects [...]
Governments around the world should commit to tripling global renewable capacity by 2030 ahead of COP28 Scenes from a world baking in record heat in recent weeks present a grim reminder that limiting the rise in global temperatures to 1.5°C is crucial to avert the worst effects of climate change. Meeting this target demands strong [...]
New report on the geopolitics of critical materials sees significant concentration in supply chains and calls for collaborative strategies to sustain the energy transition Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, 12 July 2023 – The energy transition requires a dramatic increase in the supply of critical materials, yet their supplies chains remain vulnerable to a range [...]
Dieter Janecek, Federal Government Coordinator for the Maritime Industry and for Tourism, welcomes the agreement which was reached at the International Maritime Organization (IMO) on the 7th of July 2023. He said: "Today is an important day for the mitigation of climate change: IMO has adopted more stringent climate targets to foster the decarbonisation of [...]
Annual clean energy investments in emerging and developing economies will need to more than triple from USD 770 billion in 2022 to as much as USD 2.8 trillion by the early 2030s to meet rising energy needs and align with the climate goals set out in the Paris Agreement, according to a new report released [...]
IRENA’s World Energy Transitions Outlook calls for annual renewable power additions of 1,000 GW by 2030 to keep 1.5°C climate target within reach. Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirate, 22 June 2023 – In the first volume of the World Energy Transitions Outlook (WETO) 2023 released today, the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) identifies the way [...]
On June 16, the member states of the European Union approved a comprehensive redesign of the EU Renewable Energy Directive (RED) in the Committee of Permanent Representatives. The European target for renewable energies will thus be significantly increased from 32% to 45% in 2030. This means a doubling of the share of renewable energies compared [...]
The urgent need for immediate action to address climate change is emphasized once again by the latest climate report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). To limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C, the international community must take immediate and bold steps. Offshore renewables, including offshore wind and ocean energy, hold significant potential in [...]
Agreement on Denmark's Marine Plan strengthens nature protection of the sea, the development of renewable energy and more sustainable development of fisheries. In a time marked by increased global tensions, the need for a green transition, protection of nature and development of the fishing industry, the government, together with all the parties in the Parliament, [...]
Antarctic sea ice has likely reached its minimum extent for the year, at 1.79 million square kilometers (691,000 square miles) on February 21, 2023, according to scientists at the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) at the University of Colorado Boulder. The 2023 minimum is the lowest in the 45-year satellite record. This year’s [...]