Renewable energy sources and high gas prices have contributed to a reduction in fossil fuel consumption by EU countries. This is very good news for our planet and the environment.

A report released by the Ember think-tank brings positive news. It shows that between January and June 2023, EU member states burned 17% less fossil fuels to generate energy than during the same period of time last year.

"There are several factors that contributed to the decline in the use of fossil fuels for energy production in Europe. One of them is that we have very rapid development of wind and, especially, solar energy, and it simply pushes fossil fuels out of the energy mix because it is cheaper. The other factor is that gas prices in Europe were very high, energy from gas was extremely expensive and whoever could, saved it," said Paweł Czyżak of the Ember think-tank in an interview with euractiv.pl.

The report also shows that, over the comparable period, fossil fuel consumption fell by more than 20% in as many as 11 countries and by more than 30% in five member states. The countries with the best results include:

• Portugal,
• Austria,
• Finland,
• Bulgaria,
• Estonia.

As we read on euractiv.pl, as many as 14 countries recorded the lowest consumption of fossil fuels, and in seven, fossil fuel consumption was at its lowest level this century. Such results were achieved by Austria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Italy, Slovenia and Poland.

According to the report, the amount of energy produced from fossil fuels in Poland in the first half of the year was the lowest this century. Poland produced 55.6 terawatt hours in total. In the corresponding period in 2022, it was 65 TWh. This is not the first time that Poland has reduced its consumption of harmful fossil fuels. The previous time this happened was in 2020, but this was largely due to COVID-19 pandemic.

"Now we do not have such dramatic factors, but I would also expect this trend to continue. Anyway, this is also part of a longer trend. If we look back 10 years, we produced, say, over 80% of our energy from coal, and earlier even over 90%. Now, however, we are down below 70%. This long-term forecast is therefore quite obvious. Even the Polish Energy Policy (Polish: Polityka Energetyczna Polski) assumes a drop to the level of 30% in the next few years," Paweł Czyżak said in an interview with euractiv.pl.

Source: euractiv.pl