Energy Roadmap 2050 of the European Commission
The European Commission presented its Energy Roadmap 2050 in the second half of 2011. This Energy Roadmap 2050 is intended to provide a basis for developing the long-term framework of Europe's energy policy and is supported by the "Europe 2020 Initiative - Energy 2020" adapted in 2010.
The Energy Roadmap 2050 served to examine the challenges involved in the EU's carbon reduction target - cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 80-95% below 1990 levels by 2050. In this context, the European Commission attached major importance to the fact that the security of energy supply and competitiveness will be ensured at all times. The 2020 energy targets of the EU Energy Strategy 2020, which were adopted in 2007, will continue, also after 2020, to contribute to lowering emissions by approx. 40% by 2050. However, such a reduction would fail to reach even half of the EU's decarbonisation target set for 2050.
With its Energy Roadmap 2050, the EU particularly wants to provide certainty to investors, governments and citizens on their way to a competitive, low-carbon economy. Especially infrastructure investments take time to thrive. It is assumed that this decade will witness a new investment cycle, since a major part of the infrastructure which was built 30 or 40 years ago will have to be replaced. Swift action would prevent subsequent, costlier changes. For this purpose, the Energy Roadmap 2050 examines scenarios towards a decarbonisation of the energy system, which are to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80%. Of course, in doing so, the Roadmap is based on assumptions, since it is impossible to anticipate whether an oil peak will come, whether shale gas will prove viable in Europe, whether CCS technologies (carbon capture and storage) will become commercial and how the roles of nuclear energy and global climate protection will evolve.
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