Portugal aims to be carbon-neutral by 2045

The ambitious new deadline was announced by the country’s PM António Costa at COP27

Portuguese Prime Minister has announced that his country now has a more ambitious climate goal – to become carbon-neutral by 2045, and he believes all the conditions are there. This statement was made during his two-day visit to the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.

This means bringing forward the initial horizon of 2050, stipulated by the country as part of the European Green Deal that envisions carbon neutrality for the EU as a whole by the middle of this century. The pillars that Portugal will rely on for this accelerated transition will be the progress made in public transportation, hydrogen, and the end of coal-fuelled power stations.

Factors for optimism

According to António Costa, "the country is in a condition to set this new target, as first of all, in two years we managed to decommission our coal-fuelled power stations".

"The fact that we are speeding up our green transition and have sustained policies to invest in public transportation and rail systems on a national level sets the ground for this to happen", he added, before alluding to a third factor in terms of the green transition.

The PM explained that Portugal has defined a national hydrogen strategy that will aid industry, which was previously heavily dependent on natural gas.

"Industry will have an alternative power source. This will be decisive for the transition to succeed and for us to stop importing fossil fuels in the future and start exporting green energy", he sustained.

Alluding to the recent agreement with Spain and France to create "a green corridor" connecting the European Union energy-wise, the Prime Minister said that "a fundamental step" was taken following that political commitment.

António Costa also reiterated his confidence in the Iberian model of energy production, which heavily relied on renewables, such as solar and wind power. He also declared a goal that by 2026, 80% of energy consumed nationally should originate from such sources.