BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 13. Development of renewables will happen in parallel with delay in coal phase out, the researcher in EU energy and climate policy at the European Policy Center (EPC) Marco Giuli told Trend.
He noted that in Europe, there is a certain consensus on the idea that the crisis will speed up decarbonisation.
“The RePowerEU plan foresees an acceleration of the adoption and an increase of the ambition of the Fit for 55 package proposed back in 2021, in terms of both renewable deployment, energy efficiency, decarbonisation of residential heating and industrial decarbonisation. Of course, short term turbulences might lead to the reactivation of some coal and fuel oil-based power generation capacity, but these measures need to be seen as emergency actions, not a structural shift,” added Giuli.
The expert went on to add that it is more complex when it comes to the impact of the crisis in the rest of the world.
“The EU dash for non-Russian LNG reduced the availability and affordability of natural gas among developing countries. Whether this will be conducive to a coal resurrection or a speed up of the transition is yet to be seen. Arguably, we will have both: an acceleration of renewable deployment, and a delay of coal phase out. Net effects on emissions are difficult to understand at this stage as the dust hasn’t settled yet.”
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