Helping the EU on its race to zero emissions

• The EU aims to achieve carbon neutrality for its 27 member states by 2050
• Upgrading the EU’s 2.3 billion conventional luminaires to LED will reduce CO₂ emissions by 50.9 million tonnes, save EUR 40 billion on electricity costs and massively boost jobs
• Signify calls on EU to more than double the annual percentage of building renovation to 3% to achieve emission reduction goals

Eindhoven, the Netherlands – In the EU, where lighting is estimated to be responsible for around 10% of all electricity use, findings by Signify (Euronext: LIGHT), the world leader in lighting, reveal that by upgrading conventional luminaires to LED presents the union with a significant opportunity to help it achieve net zero carbon emissions in 2050. Such a switch will further help the 27 member states meet the goals of the European Green Deal and deliver on their commitments as part of the Paris Agreement.

Upgrading the EU’s existing 2.3 billion conventional luminaires to LED will reduce the amount of CO₂ emissions by 50.9 million tonnes.¹ This is the equivalent of CO₂ that 2.3 billion trees - a forest larger than the United Kingdom - would sequester in a year. The electricity savings would amount to 188.5 TWh, which is the equivalent of the annual consumption of 51.8 million households or more than a quarter of all the households in the EU. This translates into EUR 40 billion in savings on electricity costs per year across the 27 member states. Additionally, for every EUR 1 million invested in energy renovation of buildings, an average of 18 jobs are created in the EU.²