Energy Union to Boost Diversification of Sources

The European Commission said on November 18 that the EU has made much progress since the adoption of the Energy Union Framework Strategy nine months ago but warned that member states lacked sufficient alternatives to Russian supplies.

“The Energy Union is starting to take shape. […] We should now move to full scale delivery of all actions needed,” Climate Action and Energy Commissioner Miguel Arias Cañete said in a statement.

Summarising efforts this year on building up the EU’s Energy Union, European Commission Vice President Maroš Šefčovič called for “an urgent political push” for strategic power and gas links to share resources.

Regarding geopolitics, the Energy Union czar said there has been some progress, for example the Ukrainian-Russian agreement that is now being implemented. “But geopolitical challenges will not go away, we should make sure that we are on top of them,” he said.

The EU needs to “keep pushing for the diversification of energy sources, routes and suppliers, e.g. through an ambitious LNG strategy,” Šefčovič said, reiterating that the Commission would scrutinise whether the Gazprom-backed Nord Stream-2 pipeline complied with EU rules.

He called for continuing discussions with EU partners, in particular those in the bloc’s immediate neighbourhood. “Discussions that should go beyond energy security in a narrow sense, but also address energy efficiency and the development of new technologies in renewable energy,” Šefčovič said.

The Commission Vice President called for speeding up work on infrastructure projects. “The procedures of granting permits or financing issues simply take too long. In that regard, we make some concrete proposals in the second list of projects of common interest, which we also adopted today. The list is better focused than in the past (going from 248 to 195 projects), and more aligned with the core objectives of the Energy Union (with more projects on electricity, facilitating the integration of renewables). As I said at the Infrastructure Forum that was created earlier this month: it’s now a matter of better monitoring its implementation,” he said.

“Last but not least, my fourth message. With this State of the Energy Union, we are laying the first building blocks of a ‘governance mechanism’ that will bring more transparency and predictability to investors and businesses. The low-carbon and energy efficient technologies are here. But they need investment,” Šefčovič said.

Member States must develop reliable long-term strategies and actively engage in regional cooperation, he said.

Meanwhile, Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe slammed the Energy Union package, saying it has not lived up to expectations to accelerate a shift to a fossil fuel free economy in the EU so far. “While the project remains a puzzle, the EU needs strong and coherent legislative proposals, expected next year, to stay ahead of the game on climate action,” CAN said.

The head of EU Climate and Energy Policy at WWF European Policy Office, Imke Lübbeke, said the Energy Union concept remains a vision with blind spots. “Despite calling for a ‘move away from an economy driven by fossil fuels’ the Commission makes no mention of coal phase out, and includes ambitious plans for gas infrastructure,” WWF said. “Despite wanting to be the ‘world number one in renewables’ the Commission fails to spell out how renewables can be at the heart of an energy transition which benefits people and our environment.”