The Green Deal for Europe aims to achieve climate neutrality by 2050 and sets a binding EU target of a 55% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 compared to 1990 levels. The contributions of EU Member States to this target will be partly determined by the market through the EU Emissions Trading Scheme. For the remaining part of greenhouse gas emissions outside the EU Emissions Trading Scheme, the Effort Sharing Regulation sets binding national reduction targets. The paper applies an energy optimization model to analyze the ability of the Czech Republic to meet the climate targets. Given the high level of GHG emissions in 1990 and the significant reduction of GHG emissions in the 1990s, Czechia could achieve a 55% reduction by 2030. However, further decarbonization will be quite challenging.

Forest biomass is one of the most significant renewable energy sources in the Czech Republic. Recently, Czech forests have been under attack by spruce bark beetles, threatening the stability of biomass supply also for energy purposes. The goal of this paper is to uncover the impact of four different biomass development scenarios and three policies on the energy system and to evaluate the contribution of biomass to decarbonization efforts. We use the TIMES-CZ energy system optimization model to perform the analyses. We provide a crucial extension of this model by regionalizing it into NUTS3 +1 regions. Our main findings are that under the expected price of various types of biomass and their transportation cost, energy system would still exploit available biomass almost entirely throughout the period under review; subsidizing the production cost of the most expensive type of biomass for households would help utilize the full potential of biomass; and power and heat sector and industry would compete for biomass consumption against the residential sector.