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HomeAligning policy responses to rising energy prices with the long-term climate neutrality objective
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Since mid-2021, the EU and its Member States have been confronted with a severe energy supply crisis that has resulted in record-high energy prices. The main cause of the crisis is Russian energy supply cuts in the run up to and since its invasion of Ukraine, which exposed the EU’s vulnerability due to its high energy import dependency. Throughout 2022, the EU, national and sub-national governments have taken a range of measures to mitigate the adverse impacts of high energy prices. Reduced energy demand and high availability of liquified natural gas (LNG) have allowed the EU to cope better than expected with the Russian supply cuts, and energy prices have decreased since their peak in summer 2022. However, the crisis is far from over, and the winter of 2023-2024 might be even more challenging, as the EU might come out of the 2022-2023 winter with depleted gas reserves, Russian pipeline gas supplies could drop to near zero and LNG demand in other world regions rebounds. The energy crisis poses both an opportunity and a risk for the EU’s transition towards climate neutrality. On the one hand, it provides a strong argument to accelerate the transition and become less dependent on imported fossil fuels. On the other hand, there is a risk that efforts to secure supply through the increased use of fossil fuels or soften the high energy prices through subsidies could delay the transition or even lead to long-term emission lock-ins. While some of the measures that have been taken or are still being considered could accelerate the EU’s transition towards climate neutrality, others might hamper it. The crisis came sudden and acute, requiring policy makers to act fast to avert adverse impacts on EU citizens and businesses. With the peak of energy prices behind us, the time is now to shift from crisis-management to structural measures to reduce the EU’s overall dependence of (fossil) energy imports. To this end, the European Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change (hereafter ‘the Advisory Board’) hereby provides advice to the EU and its Member States to support future decision-making in response to the energy crisis, to ensure that decisions support and do not hinder the EU’s transition towards climate neutrality. The Advisory Board’s main aim is to provide an overview of measures that can tackle the energy and climate crises simultaneously, and to caution against measures that risk undermining the climate objectives. The advice builds on lessons learned from the energy crisis so far, theoretical considerations and the latest empirical scientific insights. To develop its advice, the Advisory Board has mapped different types of measures that are being considered or have already been implemented both at the EU level and in different Member States. The Advisory Board has then assessed the ability of these measures to increase energy affordability for EU consumers (in the short and long terms), and their expected impact on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (in the short and long terms). Where relevant, other expected impacts (e.g. on energy independence or other environmental impacts) have been included as a third assessment dimension.
- Published:
- Corporate author(s): European Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change (European Environment Agency)
- Themes: Environment — Ecology , Energy
- Subject: carbon neutrality , climate change , energy crisis , energy poverty , energy supply , energy transition , energy use , EU energy policy , long-term forecast , price of energy
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| ISSN | ISBN 978-92-9480-661-1 | DOI 10.2800/153987 | Catalogue number TH-09-24-455-EN-N |
- Released on EU publications website:
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