At last, some good news! Despite the war in Ukraine, Europe is on track to meet its green energy objectives

The latest Ember report provides a positive summary of power generation in Europe during 2022, and forecasts the outlook for 2023, dispelling widespread fears in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Over the last year, wind and solar power generation overtook gas-fired energy production for the first time, with coal making a small rebound. Support for renewables grew significantly, as reflected in record household and industrial investment. After the initial increase in coal consumption following the commissioning of 26 plants as emergency back-up across Europe, market developments during the last four months of the year meant that they only operated at 18% of their capacity, and nine did not come on stream. The increase in coal consumption generated by the emergency measures amounted to less than 0.9% for the year as a whole, and of the 22 million tons of coal imported by Europe, only one third was used. Europe’s plans to abandon coal continued as before the invasion. In the last four months of the year, coal use fell by 6% (-9.6TWh) compared to the same period in 2021, and a much sharper decline is expected this year.

Europe reduced total electricity consumption significantly, due in part to weather conditions, as well as…