The European Union is stoking its power plants with fewer lumps of coal and barrels of oil and gas than it has ever recorded, data shows. From a report: The 27 member states burned 17% less fossil fuel to make electricity between January and June 2023 than over the same period the year before, a study from the clean energy thinktank Ember found. The EU made 410TWh of electricity from sources that release planet-heating gases, which analysts say is the lowest level since 2015 — the first year for which they have monthly data — and “very likely” since 2000.

The drop in fossil fuel generation was driven by a fall in demand for electricity, as well as some growth in clean power, the study found. “We’re glad to see fossil fuels down, but in the long-term it is not going to be sustainable to rely on the fall in demand to do this,” said Matt Ewen, a data analyst at Ember and author of the report. “We have to be replacing this energy rather than just expecting it to go away and not be used.” To try to stop the planet heating, the EU has promised to cut greenhouse gas pollution by at least 55% from 1990 levels by the end of the decade, and hit net zero emissions by 2050. To get there, it will probably have to use less energy but more electricity than it does today, as more people heat homes and drive cars with electricity instead of fossil fuels.