@article{valenciag2026mitigation,
title={Greenhouse gas mitigation potential of solar photovoltaics: a highly variable indicator within the European Union},
author={Valencia G., Santiago and Munkhammar, Joakim and Theocharis, Andreas and Zhang, Xingxing},
url={https://www.nature.com/articles/s44406-026-00032-w},
urldate={2026-06-21},
DOI={10.1038/s44406-026-00032-w},
ISSN={3059-2232},
number={1},
journal={npj Clean Energy},
volume={2},
publisher={Springer Science and Business Media LLC},
year={2026},
month={06},
day={03},
abstract={Solar photovoltaic (PV) is a key technology for decarbonization. However, these systems cause an environmental impact along their life cycle. Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and mitigation from PV have been studied on a world level, with a yearly resolution, concluding that there are significant differences in decarbonization depending on where PV systems are deployed. This study explores the life-cycle GHG mitigation potential in the European Union countries with hourly resolution. The life-cycle GHG mitigation potential from PV can vary from 0.6 t CO2e kWp-1 in Sweden to 18.6 CO2e kWp-1 in Cyprus. Furthermore, a difference between calculating with an hourly and yearly resolution up to 49% is found. Despite this estimation being dependant on future decarbonization scenarios and other limitations, the variation between countries suggest that these results could be used as a decision-making tool to prioritize PV deployment in regions with higher mitigation potential.},
}