Europe breaks fossil fuel shackles

As Europe emerges from the long dark winter days, many grid operators around Europe are breathing a sigh of relief. A milder winter than expected meant there wasn’t the need for increased levels of fossil fuel generation to meet heightened demand.A new report by environmental think-tank Ember found wind and solar technologies generated a fifth of EU electricity in 2022—a new record—and for the first time overtook fossil gas.Coal power share increased by just 1.5 percentage points to generate 16% of EU electricity in 2022, with year-on-year falls in the last four months of 2022 as Europe prevented a threatened return to coal power in the wake of the 2022 energy crisis.Joining the team this week is Ember’s head of data insights and lead author on the report, Dave Jones. We discuss what to look out for in 2023 and how Europe can avoid returning to old habits.Enjoy the show!If you have any thoughts or questions about anything that has been discussed in this week’s episode, you can reach us at our Twitter accounts:Dave Jones: https://twitter.com/CoalFreeDaveJan Rosenow: https://twitter.com/janrosenowDavid Weston: https://twitter.com/DaveW_FORESIGHT@WattMattersPod: https://twitter.com/WattMattersPodFORESIGHT Climate & Energy: https://twitter.com/FORESIGHTdkListen and subscribe to Watt Matters wherever you get podcasts. Follow us on Twitter at @WattMattersPod or email us at show@wattmatterspodcast.com. You can also find FORESIGHT Climate & Energy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/foresight-climate-energy/.Illustration: Masha Krasnova-Shabaeva.Show notes via this link: https://foresightdk.com/wm-ep27/.TRY FULL ACCESS TO FORESIGHT CLIMATE & ENERGY FOR €1 A DAYJoin over 100,000 policymakers, energy experts in business, finance, and academia, city leaders, and leading NGOs in having access to FORESIGHT Climate & EnergyGET YOUR 30 DAY TRIAL: www.foresightdk.com/subscribe/.

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