All official European Union website addresses are in the europa.eu domain.
See all EU institutions and bodiesDo something for our planet, print this page only if needed. Even a small action can make an enormous difference when millions of people do it!
Indicator Specification
No rationale has been identified for this indicator.
The CO2 emission intensity is calculated as the ratio of CO2 emissions from electricity generation and gross electricity generation.
Grammes of carbon dioxide per kilowatt hour (g CO2/kWh)
The EU aims to be climate-neutral (i.e. its economy will emit net-zero greenhouse gas emissions) by 2050. This objective is at the heart of the European Green Deal and in line with the EU's commitment to global climate action under the Paris Agreement. Decarbonising electricity supply, for instance by substantially accelerating the deployment of renewable energy sources to achieve a share of almost 70% in electricity generation by 2030 and over 80% by 2050, is critical to achieving this objective.
No targets have been specified
No related policy documents have been specified
The GHG intensity of total electricity generation is taken as the ratio of CO2 equivalent emissions from all electricity production (both from main activity producers and auto-producers) to total electricity generation, including electricity from nuclear plants and renewable sources.
For main activity producers, the CO2e emissions from electricity generation only (i.e. excluding emissions resulting from heat production), were estimated as follows:
a) Estimating the transformation input for gross heat production by formula: (ESTAT code TI_EHG_MAPH_E) + (ESTAT code GHP_MAPCHP) / (apparent efficiency for heat only production); apparent efficiency for heat production is: (ESTAT code GHP_MAPH) / (ESTAT code TI_EHG_MAPH_E). If apparent efficiency is zero (i.e. no heat only production), then default efficiency is 0.9;
b) Estimating the transformation input for electricity generation by subtracting the estimated transformation input for gross heat production from total transformation input for electricity and heat generation, by formula: (ESTAT codes TI_EHG_MAPE_E) + (ESTAT codes TI_EHG_MAPCHP_E) + ( ESTAT codes TI_EHG_MAPH_E) – (the result of a));
c) Multiplying the ratio of b) and the transformation input for electricity and heat generation (ESTAT codes TI_EHG_MAPE_E, TI_EHG_MAPCHP_E, and TI_EHG_MAPH_E) to total CO2e emissions from public electricity and heat production (1A1a from the EEA data viewer). Formula: (EEA data viewer 1A1A) * ((the result of b)) / (the result of a)).
The reported CO2e emissions in class 1A1a do not include CO2e emissions from autoproducers. Emissions from electricity generated by autoproducers were estimated by multiplying the ratio of the energy input for autoproducers and the energy input for main activity producers by the CO2e emissions from main activity producers (as calculated in steps a-c above). The energy input for electricity generation by autoproducers was estimated using the same method as for main activity producers (a and b above) using the ESTAT codes GHP_APH and GHP_APCHP for gross heat production and TI_EHG_APE_E, TI_EHG_APCHP_E, and TI_EHG_APH_E for transformation input for electricity and heat production.
A zero CO2e emission factor was applied to nuclear power and to renewables (including the biodegradable fraction of municipal solid waste), as the method does not take into account life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions. This applies also to solid biofuels: in accordance with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Reporting Guidelines, biofuel-related emissions have to be reported as a memorandum item in greenhouse gas emission inventories, with the assumption being that harvesting emissions would be shown as changes in carbon stocks in the land use, land use change and forestry sector, not in the energy sector. This should not be interpreted, however, as an endorsement of default carbon neutrality or the sustainability of biofuels.
The denominator of the GHG intensity of total electricity production is the sum of electricity produced from main activity producers (ESTAT: GEP_MAPE and GEP_MAPCHP) and autoproducers (ESTAT: GEP_APE and GEP_APCHP).
Calculation Formula: (CO2e * ((ei_MAP – dh_MAP) / ei_MAP)) * ((ei_AP - dh_AP) / (ei_MAP - dh_MAP)) + CO2e * ((ei_MAP – dh_MAP) / ei_MAP))) / (GEP / 85.98), where:
Dataset used:
CO2 emissions (EEA):
• derived from the reported total CO2 emissions from public electricity and heat generation from the EEA greenhouse gas data viewer (code: 1A1a). These CO2 emissions include both electricity and heat production from Public Electricity Generation, Public Combined Heat and Power, and Public Heat Plants.
nrg_bal_c (Eurostat):
Indicators:
Products:
Abbreviations:
References
EC, 2021, Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions — ‘Fit for 55’: delivering the EU’s 2030 climate target on the way to climate neutrality (COM(2021)550 final).
Eurostat, 2021, Statistics Explained, Energy balances – early estimates, https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Energy_balances_-_early_estimates, retrieved on 6 October 2021.
EC, 2020, Commission Staff Working Document — impact assessment accompanying the document Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions — stepping up Europe’s 2030 climate ambitions — investing in a climate neutral future for the benefit of our people (SWD(2020) 176 final — Part 1/2).
Policy references
EU, 2001, Directive 2001/80/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2001 on the limitation of emissions of certain pollutants into the air from large combustion plants (OJ L 309, 27/11/2001, pp. 1–21).
EU, 2018, Directive (EU) 2018/410 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 March 2018 amending Directive 2003/87/EC to enhance cost-effective emission reductions and low-carbon investments, and Decision (EU) 2015/1814 (OJ L 76, 19.3.2018, p. 3-27).
No methodology for gap filling has been specified. Probably this info has been added together with indicator calculation.
No uncertainty has been specified
No uncertainty has been specified
No uncertainty has been specified
Work specified here requires to be completed within 1 year from now.
Work specified here will require more than 1 year (from now) to be completed.
For references, please go to https://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/indicators/overview-of-the-electricity-production-4 or scan the QR code.
PDF generated on 25 Apr 2024, 07:44 PM
Engineered by: EEA Web Team
Software updated on 26 September 2023 08:13 from version 23.8.18
Software version: EEA Plone KGS 23.9.14
Document Actions
Share with others