The global climate is changing, posing increasing risks to ecosystems, human health, and the economy. In a recent report, the European Environment Agency has argued that European regions are already experiencing the impacts of climate change, including rising sea levels, extreme weather events such as floods, droughts, heatwaves in the summer months, and severe thunderstorms.

The cause of these changes is mainly due to the large quantities of greenhouse gases (GHGs) that are released into the atmosphere as a result of human activities carried out at a global level. Undoubtedly, among the most important is the combustion of fossil fuels for the production of electricity, for heating and air conditioning, for transportation and industry activities.

Globally, energy produced from fossil fuels is the main source of GHG emissions, with approximately two-thirds of emissions being related to it. In Europe, processes attributable to the energy sector are also the main source of GHG emissions, accounting for 78% of total EU emissions in 2015. The estimate of national emissions from the energy sector is slightly higher, sitting at around 80%.

Energy consumption and production thus have a huge impact on the climate and vice versa: indeed, climate change can both alter the energy production cycle and the energy needs of each country and damage the energy transmission and distribution networks due to the increase in extreme weather events. By way of example, the change in precipitation regime will affect the production of hydroelectric power plants and in summer the higher temperatures will induce an increase in energy demand for air conditioning, whereas in winter the energy demand for heating will decrease.

It is therefore important to carefully monitor the trend of GHG emissions and assess their concentration in the atmosphere to quantify how effective the energy policies undertaken at national and global levels are in combating climate change. The purpose of this report is thus to highlight the close relationship between the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and the very climate change increasingly influencing the energy system.