EU energy and climate policies offer savings of nearly 248 billion euros in the sphere of climate protection.
Research shows that implementing a unified energy and climate policy in the European Union (EU) could lead to significant savings in the cost of climate protection. For the time period between 2024 and 2050, the overall savings across the entire EU could reach up to €248 billion. Specifically, Germany could stand to save €66 billion on its own.
As explained by the Ifo Institute, individual countries trying to achieve climate neutrality on their own would result in higher costs. "It's much more efficient for the EU to work together on energy and climate policy rather than each nation trying to do it alone," said Mathias Mier, a researcher at the Ifo Institute.
In the worst-case scenario, where each member state pursues its own climate protection policies while exiting the EU in 2031, the cumulative costs for the whole of Europe would amount to €8,629 billion. For Germany, this would translate to €1,882 billion. By contrast, if all EU states managed to achieve climate neutrality within the EU by 2050, the total costs would drop to €8,381 billion for the EU and €1,816 billion for Germany.
If the EU states aimed to become climate-neutral even faster, namely by 2039, the total costs would fall even further. This would mean a saving of €8,310 billion for the EU and €1,800 billion for Germany.
The study attempts to project the European electricity mix until 2050, factoring in other sectors regulated by the EU Emissions Trading System, such as parts of industrial production, aviation, and shipping. The costs of achieving climate neutrality through the EU Emissions Trading Scheme are then calculated. These calculations take into account the electricity price, the CO2 price, and subsidies.
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- Adhering to the EU's Energy and Climate Policy could potentially save Europe an additional billion euros in climate protection costs, as suggested by the Ifo Institute's evaluation of unified climate policies.
- Despite the significant savings of €248 billion in climate protection costs brought about by EU Energy and Climate Policies, individual countries pursuing their own climate neutrality could lead to staggering costs, such as €1,882 billion for Germany.
- The total costs of achieving climate neutrality in the EU by 2050, as advocated for in the EU Energy and Climate Policies, could drop to €8,381 billion for the entire EU, a considerable decrease from the €8,629 billion costs predicted in the scenario of each member state following its own climate protection policies.
Source: www.ntv.de
