Review of Climate Strategies in Northern Europe: Exposure to Potential Risks and Limitations
Several northern European countries have announced ambitious plans to become carbon neutral already before the year 2050. Recent research has, however, highlighted how potential bottlenecks in raw material and resource availability could significantly delay or hinder wind and solar photovoltaic (PV)...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2024-03-01
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| Series: | Energies |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/17/7/1538 |
| _version_ | 1827286814540431360 |
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| author | Johannes Hyvönen Tero Koivunen Sanna Syri |
| author_facet | Johannes Hyvönen Tero Koivunen Sanna Syri |
| author_sort | Johannes Hyvönen |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Several northern European countries have announced ambitious plans to become carbon neutral already before the year 2050. Recent research has, however, highlighted how potential bottlenecks in raw material and resource availability could significantly delay or hinder wind and solar photovoltaic (PV) expansion and continued biomass usage in parts of Europe. To address this issue, this paper assesses how exposed the national energy and climate plans (NECPs) of Finland, Estonia, Germany, Sweden, and Denmark are to resource limitations and techno-economic risks by reviewing and analysing 2030 NECP targets compared to statistical energy use data in these countries. The results indicate that the NECPs of Denmark and Germany are particularly exposed to risks related to global raw material availability, as Denmark plans to rapidly grow the share of wind and solar PV in electricity generation to 81% and 13% by 2030, respectively, followed by Germany, which outlines a 39% and 16% share of wind and solar PV in its national climate strategy. The NECPs of Finland and Germany are also shown to be vulnerable to limitations in biomass availability, as there is a significant disparity between the projected biomass usage and legally binding European Union (EU) targets for land use, land use change, and forestry (LULUCF) sector emissions in 2030 in these countries. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-24T10:45:15Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-20f73750431a4ad7a11ea4f18041d772 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1996-1073 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-24T10:45:15Z |
| publishDate | 2024-03-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Energies |
| spelling | doaj.art-20f73750431a4ad7a11ea4f18041d7722024-04-12T13:17:41ZengMDPI AGEnergies1996-10732024-03-01177153810.3390/en17071538Review of Climate Strategies in Northern Europe: Exposure to Potential Risks and LimitationsJohannes Hyvönen0Tero Koivunen1Sanna Syri2Department of Mechanical Engineering, School of Engineering, Aalto University, 02150 Espoo, FinlandDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, School of Engineering, Aalto University, 02150 Espoo, FinlandDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, School of Engineering, Aalto University, 02150 Espoo, FinlandSeveral northern European countries have announced ambitious plans to become carbon neutral already before the year 2050. Recent research has, however, highlighted how potential bottlenecks in raw material and resource availability could significantly delay or hinder wind and solar photovoltaic (PV) expansion and continued biomass usage in parts of Europe. To address this issue, this paper assesses how exposed the national energy and climate plans (NECPs) of Finland, Estonia, Germany, Sweden, and Denmark are to resource limitations and techno-economic risks by reviewing and analysing 2030 NECP targets compared to statistical energy use data in these countries. The results indicate that the NECPs of Denmark and Germany are particularly exposed to risks related to global raw material availability, as Denmark plans to rapidly grow the share of wind and solar PV in electricity generation to 81% and 13% by 2030, respectively, followed by Germany, which outlines a 39% and 16% share of wind and solar PV in its national climate strategy. The NECPs of Finland and Germany are also shown to be vulnerable to limitations in biomass availability, as there is a significant disparity between the projected biomass usage and legally binding European Union (EU) targets for land use, land use change, and forestry (LULUCF) sector emissions in 2030 in these countries.https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/17/7/1538climate policyclimate neutralityresource adequacycritical raw materialsbiomass availabilityFinland |
| spellingShingle | Johannes Hyvönen Tero Koivunen Sanna Syri Review of Climate Strategies in Northern Europe: Exposure to Potential Risks and Limitations Energies climate policy climate neutrality resource adequacy critical raw materials biomass availability Finland |
| title | Review of Climate Strategies in Northern Europe: Exposure to Potential Risks and Limitations |
| title_full | Review of Climate Strategies in Northern Europe: Exposure to Potential Risks and Limitations |
| title_fullStr | Review of Climate Strategies in Northern Europe: Exposure to Potential Risks and Limitations |
| title_full_unstemmed | Review of Climate Strategies in Northern Europe: Exposure to Potential Risks and Limitations |
| title_short | Review of Climate Strategies in Northern Europe: Exposure to Potential Risks and Limitations |
| title_sort | review of climate strategies in northern europe exposure to potential risks and limitations |
| topic | climate policy climate neutrality resource adequacy critical raw materials biomass availability Finland |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/17/7/1538 |
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