Publications
Under the umbrella of the PAC project, a range of publications have been produced by various constellations of consortium partners. Find an overview of these below, with relevant download links and a brief summary.
August 2024
Authored by Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe, this technical summary report sheds light into the updated results of the PAC Scenario, outlining methodological choices, as well as key results. At the same time, the report provides outcomes of the scenario detailed by sector and analysed countries.
May 2024
Authored by Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe and the European Environmental Bureau (EEB), this policy brief aims to identify the infrastructure and grid capacities necessary for a 100% renewable energy system. It explores a pathway that aligns with achieving climate neutrality by 2040 across the European Union 27 Member States, and securing energy supply while remaining within the +1.5°C threshold.
March 2024
Renewables, energy savings, and flexibility options are positioned to replace nuclear power in the EU's energy mix. In a new PAC Scenario report, the European Environmental Bureau (EEB) highlights the feasibility of phasing out Europe’s ageing nuclear fleet and achieving climate neutrality by 2040.
September 2023
In this discussion paper written in the context of the PAC project, authors Antonella Battaglini and Andrzej Ceglarz argue that the EU’s 2030 hydrogen targets are exceeding expected demand and are dependent on a very fast and unprecedented increase of renewable capacity, grid connections, and electrolysers. If indeed the EU’s objective is to curb emissions, reach climate neutrality, and guarantee energy security, the given green hydrogen targets should be re-assessed in view of the current and anticipated constraints.
January 2023
Within this policy brief, European Environmental Bureau (EEB) proposes that renewable hydrogen is set to play a role in the decarbonisation of industrial and transport applications where direct electrification is not possible. Stringent criteria must be adopted to ensure that renewable electricity used to produce hydrogen comes from additional renewable generation capacity and does not compete with the decarbonisation of the energy system. Clustering hydrogen production and consumption are key to minimising infrastructure needs.
July 2022
This policy brief from the European Environmental Bureau (EEB) outlines the challenges and potential solutions related to a broad spectrum of environmental and social impacts of different renewable energy technologies. It also suggests corresponding policy recommendations for EU policymakers to guide the renewable energy roll-out in harmony with nature protection and within environmental and social boundaries across Europe and beyond.
July 2022
In this paper written in the context of the PAC project, authors Antonella Battaglini and Andrzej Ceglarz propose a set of actions to reduce dependency on natural gas from Russia by the winter of 2022/23 based on an analysis of current European gas supply and demand.
May 2022
In February 2022 RGI and Hitachi Energy co-organised an online Modellers’ Exchange Workshop ‘‘Accelerating full decarbonisation: Resource optimisation in energy infrastructure planning’’ that brought together more than thirty participants from across Europe and beyond. This report summarises the outcome of this workshop. It introduces the optimal capacity expansion planning model developed by Hitachi Energy, presents the main initial findings and gives an overview of the discussions held with the invited guests.
February 2022
Among the proposed policies under the “Fit for 55” package, the revision of the Renewable Energy Directive (RED III) is one of the most relevant policy initiatives to secure the transition to a 100% renewables-based energy system. This policy brief relies on the results of the Paris Agreement Compatible (PAC) scenario to benchmark the provisions of the proposed revised RED III against the 1.5°C objective of the Paris Agreement.
February 2021
The establishment of an open source culture offers an effective way of ensuring transparency and coordinating research, thereby reducing delays in system transformation and accelerating the decarbonisation effort. This document makes the case for open data within energy system modelling, describing the current state of affairs, providing an introduction into fundamental facts and detailing the many advantages of an open source culture.
January 2021
This Report was led by REN21, following their event in December by the same name. Understanding the involvement of a diversity of actors as vital for a transparent planning process and to increasing public acceptance of grid developments, this study is the latest analysis on how civil society can involve more on grid planning processes for renewables, drawing examples from Europe, Australia, Chile, Japan and Vietnam.
December 2020
This policy brief by the Renewables Grid Initiative synthesises key takeaways from discussions that took place on November 18, 2020 as part of ‘100% RES in all sectors by 2040? – Exchange of European NGOs and TSO’s about the PAC scenario’. The event was held to understand how the PAC scenario is useful for the TSO community, to learn which assumptions are perceived as most challenging, and to discuss opportunities on how to move forward.
December 2020
A central objective of the PAC Project was to learn how working on scenarios can become a more collaborative process. This Report introduces and evaluates the different elements of collaboration which were at the heart of the project.
December 2020
CAN Europe and the European Environmental Bureau (EEB) have extracted key recommendations for lawmakers from the PAC scenario. These are meant to serve as guideposts in the ongoing negotiations relating to the European Green Deal and the Recovery Fund.
June 2020
The PAC Scenario - as a first comprehensive climate and energy roadmap for Europe, drafted by a broad range of civil society organisations - remains a living document. As such, there are questions which still need to be answered through the PAC Scenario modelling. This outlook document includes some open questions which we hope to address in the near future through ongoing dialogue between civil society, energy industry, academia and politics as we jointly search for answers in order to develop a broad-based, climate-neutral energy system.
June 2020
The PAC scenario was developed by CAN Europe and the EEB under the banner of the PAC project. At its core, the Scenario is an attempt to construct a European-wide energy scenario which is aligned with the Paris Agreement’s objective to limit global warming to 1.5°C and which embodies the policy demands of civil society. In doing this, it suggests a trajectory with:
The PAC Scenario can be downloaded in full by clicking here.
Click here to see an overview of highlights from the PAC scenario.
Click here to download datasets.
September 2019
As the only pan-European assessments of energy infrastructure projects, the TYNDPs - Ten Year Network Development Plans - produced by ENTSO-E and ENTSOG, have a strong guiding function in decisions about future investements in energy infrastructure. A central part of the PAC project was concerned with reviewing the TYNDP scenarios and their assumptions.
Click here to download the document: The TYNDPs - What are they? Why do they matter?
