According to Eurostat's report on the progress of the European Union (EU) in 2016 towards its 2020 targets, the EU has exceeded its target of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 20% by 2020 (-22.4% in 2016) compared with 1990 levels. The main driver behind this figure was the introduction of new policy instruments such as the EU ETS, which sets a single EU-wide cap for more than 11,000 stationary installations, including power plants.
The share of renewable energy in its gross final energy consumption stood at 17% in 2016 (11% in 2008) and the EU plans to reach at least 20% in 2020. Besides, the increase between 2015 and 2016 was lower than expected (+0.3% between 2015 and 2016), which means that the EU has to take additional measures to remain on track with the 2020 target.
As for the primary and final consumption objectives, the EU is not on track. The EU's primary energy consumption slightly increased between 2015 and 2016 and remained above 1.5 Gtoe/year (1.7 Gtoe/year in 2008), while the current 2020 objective is below 1.5 Gtoe/year. As for the final energy consumption, progresses are slow and roughly 1.1 Gtoe/year were consumed in 2016 (1.2 Gtoe/year in 2008) while less than 1.1 Gt/year are expected for 2020. The final consumption also increased between 2015 and 2016 linked to the EU slight economic rebound, which resulted in a recovery of the consumption.
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