Management consulting firm Colombus Consulting has published the results of the sixth edition of its study on the financial health of European and Swiss electricity producers, as the price of a tonne of CO2 reached the historic peak of €65 at the end of September 2021.
- Despite the drop in electricity consumption (-4.4%) in Europe (-2.6% in Switzerland) between 2019 and 2020, electricity producers continue to increase their production capacities (+1.5%) to compensate for the closure of historical carbon assets.
- The increase in CO2 prices will affect the energy players and will reward low-emission electricity producers compared to their competitors, such as Swiss or French producers.
- The share of electricity generated from renewable sources (38%) exceeded that of fossil fuels (37%) for the first time in 2020.
- Despite its highly decarbonised energy mix (96% of electricity consumed), Switzerland continues to import part of its carbon-based electricity from Europe, jeopardising its energy sovereignty
- With the transition of the energy mix towards renewable energies and the gradual abandonment of coal, CO2 emissions have fallen by almost 10% in 5 years (Europe and Switzerland). This decline accelerated in 2020 with the health crisis.