Introductions
2021 is one of the milestone years for climate policy and sustainable development. According to the Paris Agreement of 2015, all nations should submit their National Energy and Climate Plan to the United Nations. In that plan, countries have to pledge a particular year when they will achieve net-zero emissions and how they are going to achieve it. As of now, most European nations have submitted their National Energy and Climate Plan to United Nations, but Asian countries are lagging in this aspect. Global pressure is building on the nations that haven’t submitted their National Energy and Climate Plan. Due to recent incidences like Germany floods and Canadian heat waves that killed hundreds of people, global pressure has increased on those nations to submit their National Energy and Climate Plan.
In this case study, I analyzed the energy scenario of eight European countries and three Asian countries. Along with that, I also analyzed the official policy of each country regarding net zero-emission and sustainable development. Each country has a different set of climate problems and unique sources of energy technologies to tackle those problems.
Goals and progress
Denmark
Denmark is one of the pioneer countries in the field of net-zero emission missions. Denmark’s official plan for net zero emission was announced on the 22nd March 2012. According to this plan, Denmark’s government wants to make a fossil-fuel-free society by 2050.
To achieve this ambitious target, Denmark established a four steps plan. The first step is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 34% as compared to 1990 by the year 2020. The second step is to abolish all coal production by the end of 2030. The third step is to make all electricity and heating production to be fossil-fuel-free. The last step of the plan is to eradicate all the fossil fuel sources within the country’s transportation sector by 2050.
In December 2019, Denmark’s government submitted the ‘Integrated national energy and climate plan. According to this plan, Denmark has set a goal of at least 55 % renewable energy in net consumption in 2030 and reduce greenhouse gases by 70% by 2030 (relative to 1990 level), to reach net-zero emissions by 2050 at the latest. Moreover, according to Eurostat, 38 percent of the total energy consumption of Denmark was produced from renewable energy sources in the year 2019.
Netherlands
The Netherlands is always known for innovative infrastructural solutions for tackling climate change and rising sea levels. But in the case of renewable infrastructure, Netherlands is lagging behind other EU nations. According to Eurostat’s 2018 press release, Netherlands ‘ renewable energy share is only 7.9 percent which is the least in all EU nations.
Netherlands’ net-zero missions began with the formation of a local climate agenda in November of 2011. Till now, significant milestones in the mission are the May 2018s government decision to ban all coal-based power plants by 2030, may 2019s adoption of the climate action by the senate, and December 2019s submission of the National Energy and climate plan to the European Commission.
According to the 2019s National Energy and Climate Plan Netherlands’ government wants to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 49% by 2030, compared to 1990 levels, and a 95% reduction by 2050. According to Eurostat as of 2019, 9 percent of the total energy consumption of the Netherlands produces from renewable energy sources.
Germany
Germany is one of the few countries which announced the nuclear phase-out along with their net-zero plan. Germany has pledged to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40% below 1990 levels by 2020 and by 80-85 percent by 2050 from 1990 levels. To achieve such a goal, Germany plans to transform its electricity supply system to a wholly renewable-based one. [6]
In December 2019, Germany submitted its ‘Integrated National Energy and Climate Plan’ to the EU. According to this plan, Germany wants to reduce its greenhouse gas emission by 55 percent by 2030 compared to 1990. Further, achieve greenhouse gas neutrality by 2050. To achieve greenhouse gas neutrality, Germany planed the goals for each sector to boost the share of renewable energy in them. For electricity sector goal is to produce 65 percent of electricity from renewable energy by 2030. The renewable energy share in the heating-cooling sector and transportation sector to be 27 percent by 2030.
Sweden
Sweden is spearheading the EU renewable energy transition by producing 56 percent of its final energy consumption from renewable energy sources. Also, Sweden is one of the few nations that achieved the EU’s 2020 renewable energy target by producing more than 50 percent o energy from renewable energy sources by 2012. The secret of this achievement is the rich supply of moving water and biomass. Due to this hydro-power and bio-energy are the top renewable sources of energy. Hydro-power is mainly used to produce electricity and biomass energy is used for heating applications. Also, nuclear power has a 30 percent share in total electricity production.
On 16 January 2020, Sweden submitted its Integrated National Energy and Climate Plan to European Union. According to this plan, Sweden wants to achieve a net-zero greenhouse gas emission target by 2045. To achieve this goal, Sweden gave a framework that includes a 70 percent reduction in emissions in the transport sector by 2030, 100% renewable electricity generation by 2040. Sweden hasn’t set any deadline for nuclear phase-out as of now.
China
The Chinese government announced its climate action plan for the next five years on 26th February 2021. There are three main points in the climate action plan a) Get 20% of its energy from non-fossil fuel sources by 2025.b) Reduce energy use and carbon emissions per unit of GDP by 13.5% and 18%, respectively. c) Increase nuclear power capacity to 70 GW. [7]
For the next goal, Tsinghua University’s Institute of Energy, Environment, and Economy has prepared a plan which is a more gradual transition over the next decade and a half, with a rapid acceleration after 2035. The institute works closely with the Ministry of Ecology and Environment on projecting long-term goals. [8]
Key findings in the plans are a) Energy demand will peak around 2035 at somewhere between 6 billion and 6.5 billion tons of coal equivalent. b) Coal-fired power to be phased out around 2050. c) The share of non-fossil fuels in total energy demand will grow from about 15% last year to 20% by 2025, 24% in 2030, 62% in 2050, and 84% in 2060. d) China will have to apply carbon capture and sequestration or bio-CCS to mitigate the remaining CO2.
India
Currently, India does not have any fixed time-bound goal regarding net zero-emission. Indian government officials are debating whether to set a target for net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.[9]
Reforming India’s electricity sector is key to delivering lower emissions. From 2014 solar and wind capacity has increased to about 93 GW in India. The government of India set an ambitious target of installing 450GW renewable energy plants by 2030.
India is working on multiple initiatives to reduce carbon emission, like India Cooling Action Plan (ICAP) will help address cooling requirements and reduce the cooling demand in the country. Also, The Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) and Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) has taken some initiatives under the National Mission for Enhanced Energy Efficiency (NMEEE) to combat climate change. Along with that The Compensatory Afforestation Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) Fund created under the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Act, 2016, has thousands of crores which will hopefully be utilized soon to compensate for deforestation and restore the green cover comprising native species of trees. [10]
Norway
Norway is truly blessed by the god in terms of its mountain ranges and valley. Those mountainous terrains created the natural potential necessary for building hydropower plants. Due to its mountainous terrain, Norway produces 98 percent of total electricity production from renewable energy resources, mainly hydropower plants. At the end of 2020, the total installed capacity of the Norwegian power supply system was 37 732 MW, and annual production was 153,2 TWh. [14]
There are 1690 hydropower plants in Norway which account for producing 88 percent of Norwegian production capacity. Norway has 1000 storage reservoirs with a total storage capacity equal to 70 percent of the annual Norwegian electricity supply. Wind only accounts for 10 percent of production capacity and is used as intermittent capacity. To reduce vulnerability to fluctuations in production between seasons and years, Norway has integrated its power market with the rest of Europe through cross-border inter-connectors.
In October 2019, Norway submitted its ‘Integrated National Energy and Climate Plan’ to the EU. According to this plan, Norway agreed on reducing greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40% by 2030. Norway is one of the few nations that has updated its ‘Integrated National Energy and Climate Plan’ and set a more ambitious goal. On 7 February 2020, Norway updated and enhanced its nationally determined contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement, committing to emission reductions of 50% by 2030 compared to the 1990 level and 95% by 2050 compared to the 1990 level. [15]
Finland
Finland made excellent use of its forest industry and forestry to transition towards a clean environment and sustainable future. The most important forms of renewable energy used in Finland are bioenergy, fuels from forest industry side streams, and other wood-based fuels.[16] Bioenergy is produced from biodegradable waste and side streams of agriculture and industrial production and municipal waste. [16]. In recent years, energy derived from wood fuels has accounted for around one-fourth of Finland’s total energy consumption.[17]. Along with that hydropower, wind power, and ground heat are also used to produce power. Solar power is also expanding in Finland, especially as an on-site generation substitute and solar heating as a supplement to the main heating system.
In June 2019, Finland submitted its ‘Integrated National Energy and Climate Plan’ to the EU. According to this plan, Finland plans to achieve carbon neutrality by 2035. To achieve this, the Finnish government plans to produce 50 percent of its gross final energy consumption from renewable energy resources by 2030. Along with the emission target for 2030 is set of 55 percent of 1990 level of emission.
France
Due to the extra emphasis on nuclear energy during the 1970s to 1980s France, became a nuclear powerhouse. France built 34 four 900 MW nuclear power plants. As a result, now 75 percent of the total electricity supply comes from nuclear power plants. However, nuclear waste is becoming detrimental to the environment and has become a roadblock in France’s dream of a clean and sustainable environment. To combat this threat, France is aggressively shifting towards renewable energy resources to produce its electricity. The French government plans to increase its renewable energy share to 40 percent in electricity production by 2030.
In March 2020, France submitted its ‘Integrated National Energy and Climate Plan’ to the EU. According to this plan, France plans to reach its net zero emission by 2050. To achieve this ambitious goal French government has identified four key goals. Those are a. Reduce greenhouse gas emission by 39.5 percent as compared to 1990 by 2030. b. Reduce net final consumption by 17 percent as compared to 2012 by 2030. c. Reduce usage of fossil fuel by 36 percent as compared to 2012 by 2030. d. Reduce the share of nuclear energy in net electricity production from 75 percent to 50 percent by 2030.
Spain
Spain is rapidly moving towards a green and clean environment by reducing its reliance on conventionally energy sources such as coal, gas, oil. To do so, the government of Spain has decided to ban all new oil and gas projects along with their subsidies. Furthermore, 7 of 15 coal plants in Spain will decommission by the end of this year. To compensate for energy deficiency, produce by all these measures, the government of Spain is rapidly developing renewable energy projects. The target for the year 2030 in terms of net installed capacity is 161 GW, out of which 50 MW will be wind energy, 39 MW will be solar photovoltaic, 27 GW will be gas cycled, 16 GW will be hydroelectric energy, 9.5 GW will be pumping, 7 GW will be solar thermal, 3 GW will be nuclear, together with smaller amounts of other technology.
In January 2020, Spain submitted its ‘Integrated National Energy and Climate Plan’ to the EU. According to this plan, Spain wants to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. To achieve this ambitious goal Spanish government has identified four key milestones that have to be reached by 2030. A. Reduce greenhouse gas emission by 23 percent as compared to 1991. B. Increase share of renewable energy to 42 percent in final energy consumption. C. Improve energy efficiency to 39.5 percent D. Increase the share of renewable energy to 74 percent in electricity generation.
Singapore
Even though Singapore is a small island nation, it is one of the most technically advanced and wealthy nations in Asia. Due to its technical advancement, Singapore is also leading in the sustainable development sector and clean environment. The share of natural gas in the net electricity production of Singapore is about 95 percent, which is one of the cleanest fossil fuels. But its small size limits Singapore from harnessing alternate energy sources like solar, wind, or even nuclear at a large scale due to scarcity of land.
To tackle the land scarcity issue Singapore has come up with innovative solutions such as deploying floating solar of 50 megawatt-peak on Tengeh Reservoir, and one of the world’s largest sea-based offshore floating solar test-beds of 5 megawatt-peak north of Woodlands Waterfront Park. [21]. Among all renewable energy resources, Solar energy is most promising for Singapore. Singapore’s installed solar capacity was 203 MWp in 2018, and we aim to increase this to 350 MWp by 2020 and 1 GWp beyond 2020.[21]. Singapore Government carried out a study during 2010-2012 to check the feasibility of nuclear power for Singapore. The study concluded that with the current technology, nuclear power is not a sustainable solution for Singapore because of its small and dense city structure.
On 31 March 2020, Singapore submitted its enhanced Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) and Long-Term Low-Emissions Development Strategy (LEDS) document to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).[23] According to this plan Singapore government wants to reach pick emission by 2030, which is about 65 MTCO2e, and reduces it to 33 MTCO2e by 2050.
Singapore accounts for around 0.11 percent of global carbon emissions due to consistent efforts made by the Singapore government towards a sustainable and clean environment. But Singapore is heavily reliant on imports of food, materials, and goods to sustain a daily living and economic activity. Because of this heavy reliance, the Singapore government doesn’t have control over most of the emissions due to its indirect nature. To solve this problem, in 2018 Singapore government implemented a policy. According to this policy, Singapore’s government established a dedicated Climate Action Package to help develop capacity in developing countries in areas such as climate science, flood management, and disaster risk reduction. Also, Singapore is closely working with the ASEAN Member States, providing them technology and knowledge so they can effectively implement the Paris Agreement.
Discussion
Same as 2021 and 2015, the year 1992 was also monumental for climate policy. The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), also known as the ‘Earth Summit, was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 3-14 June 1992. [13] One of the major results of the UNCED Conference was Agenda 21, a daring program of action calling for new strategies to invest in the future to achieve overall sustainable development in the 21st century.[13] Though the conference was held as a successful conference, the climate conditions got worse in the first two decades of 21 century. On 12 December 2015, 196 nations adopted the Paris agreement. It is a time-bound agreement that was put into action on 4 November 2016. The Paris Agreement works on a 5- year cycle of increasingly ambitious climate action carried out by countries. According to the Paris agreement, all nations should submit these goals by 2021, but not all 196 nations have submitted their plans. To make the Paris agreement successful, prevent failures like the Earth Summit, all nations have to submit and commit to their national climate and energy plan.
Unlike nuclear race or race to space, net-zero emission mission is not a race. Net-zero emission mission is a collaborative mission by all the countries to save the earth. This collaboration is evident from the examples like all European nations are building or planning to build grid interconnectors. These grid interconnectors will solve some of the fundamental problems with renewable energy resources like seasonal dependence and varying supply of energy. Another example of this collaboration is the example of Singapore. Singapore is sharing its fund and technology with its neighboring developing countries to tackle climate change. In a way, the climate crisis is uniting the world for the common cause and greater good.
Reference
- Denmark’s Integrated National Energy and Climate Plan. Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/energy/sites/default/files/documents/dk_final_necp_main_en.pdf
2. Netherlands’ Integrated National Energy and Climate Plan. Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/energy/sites/default/files/documents/nl_final_necp_main_en.pdf
3. Germany’s Integrated National Energy and Climate Plan. Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/energy/sites/default/files/documents/de_final_necp_main_en.pdf
4. Sweden’s Integrated National Energy and Climate Plan. Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/energy/sites/default/files/documents/se_final_necp_main_en.pdf
5. Climate policy of Netherlands. Available at:
https://www.government.nl/topics/climate-change/climate-policy
6. UN blog post title Germany has promised to transform its electricity supply to 100 percent renewable energy by 2050available at:
https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/index.php?page=view&type=99&nr=24&menu=1449
7. Bloomberg Article with the title ‘This Is How Top Polluter China Plans to Be Greener by 2025’ available at: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-03-05/this-is-how-top-polluter-china-plans-to-be-greener-by-2025
8. Bloomberg’s Article with the title ‘China’s Top Climate Scientists Plan Road Map to 2060 Goal’ is available at: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-09-28/china-s-top-climate-scientists-lay-out-road-map-to-hit-2060-goal
9. Mint’s Article with the title ‘India considers going net-zero emissions by 2050. Can it achieve the target?’ available at:
10. The Hindu’s article with the title ‘Target Net Zero: India’s plan to address climate change is available at: https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/target-net-zero-indias-plan-to-address-climate-change/article34357400.ece
11. Power Technology’s Article with title ‘Fossil fuel free by 2050: Danish Energy Minister Martin Lidegaard explains how’ available at:
https://www.power-technology.com/features/featurefossil-fuel-free-2050-denmark-wind-power
12. EUobserver’s Article with the title ‘Why is the Netherlands so far behind on renewables? available at: https://euobserver.com/environment/147263
13. Report of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development Rio de Janeiro, 3-14 June 1992: https://undocs.org/en/A/CONF.151/26/Rev.1(vol.I)
14. Official website of Norway Government title energy facts available at:
https://energifaktanorge.no/en/norsk-energiforsyning/kraftproduksjon/
15. Norway’s Integrated National Energy and Climate Plan. Available at: https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/resource/LTS1_Norway_Oct2020.pdf
16. Official website of the ministry of economic affairs and employment of Finland/ renewable energy in Finland available at:
https://tem.fi/en/renewable-energy
17. Hivepower’s Article with title ‘Renewable Energy in France; What You Should Know’ available at:https://hivepower.tech/renewable-energy-in-france-what-you-should-know
18. Spain’s Integrated National Energy and Climate Plan. Available at:https://ec.europa.eu/energy/sites/default/files/documents/es_final_necp_main_en.pdf
