This study analyzes the evolution of the energy mix from 2018 (considering Eurostat data) to 2030 (considering the European reference scenario), with a Life Cycle Thinking approach, for seven European countries (France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Denmark, Belgium and Finland) and relates them to the Italian case.

The greatest efforts promoted by the European Commission have been aimed at reducing climate-changing emissions: this has been seen in the policies that the various countries analyzed have adopted. According to estimates of the energy mix of these countries by 2030, there is an average reduction of 42% in the impacts on climate change, the best result after the reduction of acidification (impact category closely linked to the first). Only one country does not show a reduction in climate-changing emissions: Belgium. In this country, the decommissioning of nuclear power in favor of imports and gas causes an increase in emissions by 2030. The reduction of climate-altering emissions has been to the detriment of another impact category—the consumption of resources (minerals, fossils and renewables)—which saw an increase precisely for those countries that had reduced CO2 emissions the most: Spain, France and Portugal.