Deliverable 6.1 - Focus study report on decarbonization and circular economy in industry

The 2015 Paris Agreement has as the central aim to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change by keeping global temperature rise in this century well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius (United Nations 2015). To reach this ambitious goal, two central strategies have to be implemented in all countries: (i) enhancing energy efficiency (EE) and (ii) decarbonizing remaining energy supply and demand, in particular by large penetration of renewable energy sources (RES). Scenarios with different focuses and assumptions have been developed to map the European energy transition until 2050 (European Commission 2021b). While these scenarios present important tools to support decision makers, much more progress is necessary to quantify the impact of New Societal Trends on future energy demand and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.