Key results - Eastern Europe / Eurasia

Moving from principles to action for energy supply that mitigates against climate change requires a long-term perspective. Energy infrastructure takes time to build up; new energy technologies take time to develop. Policy shifts often also need many years to take effect. In most world regions the transformation from fossil to renewable energies will require additional investment and higher supply costs over about twenty years

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regional results eastern europe/eurasia heating supply

heating supply

Today, renewables meet 3% of Eastern Europe/Eurasia’s heat demand, the main contribution coming from the use of biomass. The construction and expansion of district heating networks is a crucial prerequisite for the large scale utilisation of geothermal and solar thermal energy. Dedicated support instruments are required to ensure a dynamic development. In the Energy [R]evolution scenario, renewables provide 45% of Eastern Europe/Eurasia’s total heat demand in 2030 and 91% in 2050.

Energy efficiency measures help to reduce the currently growing energy demand for heating by 42 % in 2050 (relative to the reference scenario), in spite of improving living standards.
In the industry sector solar collectors, geothermal energy (incl. heat pumps), and electricity and hydrogen from renewable sources are increasingly substituting for fossil fuel-fired systems.
A shift from coal and oil to natural gas in the remaining conventional applications leads to a further reduction of CO2 emissions.

Table 5.38 shows the development of the different renewable technologies for heat Eastern Europe/Eurasia over time. Up to 2020 biomass will remain the main contributors of the growing market share. After 2020, the continuing growth of solar collectors and a growing share of geothermal heat pumps will reduce the dependence on fossil fuels.