Renewables get EU regulatory boost

The European Commission, European Union’s (EU) regulatory arm, has revised its renewable energy law to set targets for using sustainable fuels in transport, heating, and cooling.

The plan requires emissions from new cars and vans to fall by 65% by 2030 and by 100% by 2035, compared to 2021 levels.

These stricter pollution standards are accompanied by rules for national governments to bolster vehicle charging infrastructure. The revisions also include a proposal to boost the power that the EU receives from renewable energy to 40% from the current 32% by 2030.

This law can provide guidelines to other countries shifting towards net-zero emissions and encourage investments in the sectors pushing innovation in renewable energy.

The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) also reported last week that growth in large-scale solar capacity in the country was projected to exceed that of wind in 2022 for the first time.

The EIA’s short-term energy outlook estimates that wind and solar capacity will reach 15% of total US generation by next year, compared to 11% in 2020. A forecasted 17 GW of solar capacity will be added in 2022, compared to 6 GW for wind.

The following chart shows that renewable energy generation worldwide increased in 2020 compared to 2019, with a decrease in oil, natural gas, and coal for electricity generation use.