Early decarbonisation of the European energy system pays off

In the context of increasing public climate change awareness and plummeting costs for wind and solar photovoltaics, discussions on increasing CO$_2$ reduction targets for Europe have started. Here, we model alternative transition paths with strict carbon budget for the sector-coupled networked European energy system. We show that up-to-date costs for wind and solar and the inclusion of highly resolved time series for balancing make climate action with renewables more cost-effective than previously seen. Ambitious CO$_2$ reductions in the short term not only trigger a cheaper transition but also incentivise more stable CO$_2$ prices and build rates for the required new capacities which could be beneficial from the point of view of investors, social acceptance, local economies, and jobs creation.