Detrimental ohmic and mass transport overvoltages experienced by the membrane electrode assembly (MEA) CO₂ electrolyzer pose critical barriers to the transition from lab scale to large scale operation. The operating temperature was found to be a critical parameter for improving the performance as the power density was reduced by up to 35 % when increasing the temperature from 25 °C to 60 °C. At low current densities, increasing temperature also led to a 7 fold reduction in ohmic resistance. At higher current densities, overvoltages were dominated by distinct mass transport limitations at the gas diffusion electrodes. Additionally, a high current density of 755 mA/cm² was reached by fully humidifying the reactant CO₂. The power density was reduced by up to 30 % as a result of a 4-fold decrease in ohmic losses. The findings of this thesis provide valuable insights for achieving higher current densities at low cell voltages for CO₂ electrolyzers.