{"id":30370,"title":"3 Things to Watch for in the REPowerEU Plan for Energy Independence","link":"https:\/\/bst-europe.eu\/de\/investment-budget\/3-things-to-watch-for-in-the-eus-plan-for-energy-independence\/","date":"31. Mai 2022","date_unix":1654001771,"date_modified_unix":1754484444,"date_iso":"2022-05-31T12:56:11+00:00","content":"

On March 8, 2022, the European Commission announced REPowerEU, a strategy to reduce European energy dependence on imported fossil fuels from Russia before 2027. EU leaders in the European Council agreed on the idea and asked the European Commission to draw up a detailed plan. On May 18th<\/sup>, the Commission presented its roadmap. This article looks at three aspects to follow moving forward as the REPowerEU plan enters its next phase.
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With the REPowerEU plan<\/a>, the EU has reacted to calls from member states and allies like the US and the UK to reduce dependence on Russian coal, oil and gas to hurt the Russian economy and reduce Putin\u2019s leverage over EU members. The plan has dozens of recommendations and amended targets from energy efficiency to renewable energy generation and diversification of natural gas sources.<\/p>\n

Some aspects of REPowerEU\u2019s mission, like the EU Energy Purchase Platform<\/strong>, are already moving ahead, while others will go through further deliberations in the European Parliament and the Council.<\/p>\n

Three things to watch moving forward are: how the financing of the projects needed to accomplish the plan will work in practice; how electrification of heating, industry and transportation will be balanced with more ambitious energy consumption reduction targets; and what priorities the already established regional task force (established with Bulgaria) sets itself.<\/p>\n

Coal, oil and gas dependence: Progress so far<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Before giving an overview of the details of the REPowerEU plan, here\u2019s the current status of Russian fossil fuel imports to the EU.<\/p>\n

Some progress in reducing dependency on Russian fossil fuels has already been made. But further reductions of Russian energy imports via an embargo is proving politically difficult since it would drive up energy prices further and weaken the economies of the EU members most dependent on Russian energy.<\/p>\n

Coal imports <\/strong> from Russia to the EU were banned in early April as part of the fifth round of sanctions<\/a>, with imports set to stop in August. Since the war began, coal imports from Russia have already dropped 40%<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Imports of Russian oil <\/strong>to the EU,<\/strong> with a near complete EU import ban agreed to by the European Council on May 30th<\/sup>, 2022, had also seen a 20% drop since the start of the war in Ukraine. With an official ban taking months to negotiate, this has been due mainly to some EU members\u2019 unilateral decisions to stop importing Russian oil. By the end of the year, the Commission predicts, 90% of Russian oil imports to the EU will end<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Attribution of Gas Imports to Individual Sources and Gas Share in Final Energy Consumption in 2021, in EU Members and the UK<\/strong><\/h5>\n
\"graph:<\/a>
Source: European natural gas imports<\/a> | Also see this blog post<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Of the three, natural gas<\/strong> imports from Russia have been the most difficult topic for EU members, but some have already stopped buying Russian gas for various reasons. Some countries that had high dependencies on Russian natural gas<\/a>, like Lithuania (70% of its natural gas imports from Russia in 2021), Latvia (97%) and Estonia (100%), voluntarily stopped importing Russian natural gas in April.<\/p>\n

Others like Poland and Bulgaria were cut off by Moscow for refusing to abide by the demand to pay for gas in rubles. Finland got the same treatment for deciding to join NATO. But other EU members are against a natural gas embargo before the end of this year.<\/p>\n

What has already taken place with the Baltics, Poland and Bulgaria has impacted deliveries of natural gas from Russia to the EU. While in the weeks following the invasion of Ukraine, gas imports from Russia increased, they have since dropped to about one-half to two-thirds of the volume during the same time frame in 2021.<\/a><\/p>\n

REPowerEU: Increase efficiency, electrification and investment<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The REPowerEU plan proposes a plan for the EU to reduce dependence on Russian fossil fuels to zero by 2027. It does not mention a ban on Russian gas; instead, it aims to make the question of a boycott irrelevant by starting a serious move toward replacing Russian gas entirely. To achieve this, the plan proposes that member states undertake projects to:<\/p>\n