Roadmap 2050: A practical guide to a prosperous, low-carbon Europe

The project

The ECF has embarked on a project in support of the climate and energy goals set by the EU’s Heads of State and Government of reducing Europe’s GHG emissions by 80-95% by 2050.

The Roadmap 2050 project sets out the crucial role of a zero-carbon power sector to Europe’s long-term climate commitments and shows different pathways that can make this a reality delivering economic and energy security goals. The Roadmap is based on extensive technical, economic and policy analyses conducted by five leading consultancies: Imperial College London, KEMA, McKinsey & Company, Oxford Economics, and the Office of Metropolitan Architecture, in addition to the involvement of utilities, transmission operators and NGOs.

The Roadmap examines several decarbonization scenarios for the power sector and, based on a back-casting methodology, sets out the near-term implications of this long-term commitment. The analysis shows that in each of the scenarios the cost of zero carbon power remains in current ranges. It also shows that an inter-regional European transmission grid can provide the level of reliability that users expect in all scenarios.

Action before 2015 is a prerequisite for decarbonization by 2050.

Immediate policy development and implementation should therefore focus on:

• Energy Efficiency measures, creating cost savings and reducing demand.
• Investments in regional grid inter-connection, minimizing back-up supply and load-balancing requirements.
• Market reform to ensure an effective investment scenario.

The Roadmap 2050 shows that the benefits of the low-carbon transition by far outweigh the challenges and that a commitment now to a systemic low-carbon transformation of the energy sector is ultimately the winning economic strategy for competitiveness, jobs and low-carbon prosperity. Achieving the 80% GHG reductions target in 2050 based on zero carbon power generation in Europe is technically feasible and makes compelling economic sense.

The full report can be downloaded from the Roadmap 2050 website:
http://www.roadmap2050.eu/