According to data released by the European Commission recently, greenhouse gas emissions in the EU's emissions trading system in 2019 decreased by 8.7% compared with 2018, the biggest drop since 2005. Among them, the carbon dioxide emissions of the power industry decreased by 15%, the industrial emissions decreased by about 2%, and the emissions of the aviation industry increased slightly.

According to Platts energy, a world-renowned energy information provider, the main reasons for the increase in EU greenhouse gas emissions are the decrease in the price of clean energy such as natural gas, the rise in the price of emissions trading and the rapid development of new energy. Influenced by the increase of natural gas reserves and other factors, since the beginning of 2019, the price of natural gas in Europe has dropped by more than 50%; the cost of carbon trading in the EU has continued to increase, and the price of carbon emissions trading has increased from 10 euros per ton in 2018 to 25 euros per ton in 2019; the widespread application of renewable energy such as wind power and solar energy in power and other industries has further promoted the EU's transformation to clean energy. According to the annual report on Power Industry issued by Agora, a German energy research think tank, the proportion of renewable energy in power generation in the EU has reached 34.6% in 2019.

Since the European Commission officially announced the "green agreement" investment plan in January this year, the EU's "green development" ambition has attracted the attention of the outside world. The total investment scale of the plan is expected to reach 1 trillion euros, which will be implemented in the next 10 years to help EU countries achieve the "carbon neutral" goal in 2050. Among them, reducing the use of fossil energy, increasing the proportion of renewable energy power generation, developing hydrogen and other low-carbon energy will be the focus of the plan.

Chairman of the European Commission Feng delaine recently called on the EU to adhere to the implementation of the "European Green agreement" investment plan as an important matter to deal with the epidemic and restore the economy. Up to now, Germany, France, Italy and more than a dozen European Union countries have responded positively, making the implementation of the "European Green agreement" an important task in the process of economic recovery.

Recently, European finance ministers issued an open letter in a video conference, pointing out that EU countries should adopt feasible strategies to achieve "European Green agreement" and embrace a low-carbon future. According to the analysis of European media, although the epidemic has led to the recession of EU economy and the member states have taken boosting domestic economy as the primary task at present, countries have paid more attention to climate change and other issues. Frans Timmermans, executive vice president of the environmental committee of the European Parliament, said that "the European Green agreement" is the "lifeline" for the EU to get out of the shadow of the epidemic. "A 'green recovery' of the economy is not only achievable, but also very important for the EU. The EU can no longer do the same. It needs to make its economy cleaner and more sustainable. "

However, there are also some differences on the specific implementation of the "European Green agreement" within the EU. Novel coronavirus pneumonia has been a relatively dependent on coal and electricity. Poland and other Eastern European countries have asked the EU to relax carbon emission restrictions during the new crown pneumonia epidemic. In addition, the European auto industry is also under pressure from the EU's increasingly strict emission limits. The European automobile industry once wrote to the European Commission that it hoped to make appropriate adjustments to the carbon dioxide emission standards of the automobile industry.

Source: People's daily