Energy Transition Beyond Russia: Europe’s Path to Diversity and Sustainability

In the EU, approximately 20.9% of the electricity is generated using natural gas, also widely used for heating and cooking. In 2021, Russia's pipeline gas accounted for over 40% of the EU’s imported gas. However, after invading Ukraine in 2022, Russia reduced 80 billion cubic meters of pipeline gas supplies to Europe; Gazprom, the Russian gas giant, cut off gas exports in mid-2022, aiming to create economic and political challenges for EU countries. In August 2022, energy prices reached an all-time high, due to the panic caused by unpredictability- deploring Russia’s military aggression, the EU moved away from Russian fossil fuels by diversifying its supply. By 2023, Russia’s share in the EU gas imports had dropped to just 8%, with Norway and the US becoming the EU’s biggest supplier. 

Photo credit: Department of Energy 

However, replacing Russian gas with U.S. supply brings its own set of concerns. First, the longer and more complex supply chain increases the risk of methane leakage- a greenhouse gas found in natural gas that is 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide. A recent study found that 3.5% of the gas delivered to customers leaks unburned into the atmosphere. Additionally, carbon dioxide emissions from all seven U.S. liquefied natural gas export facilities reached 17.6 million tons in 2022, an 81% increase since 2019.

In response to energy market disruptions caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the European Commission launched the REPowerEU plan in May 2022, helping the EU both phase out Russian fossil fuel supplies and increase clean energy production. In 2022, wind and solar generated more electricity than gas in the EU for the first time. The Netherlands is the leading EU country in solar generation, producing 14% of its electricity from solar power. Substantial subsidies for rooftop solar installations have driven the increase in residential solar adoption, with 2.6 million Dutch homes generating over 22 million kilowatts of solar power as of mid-2023. Besides rooftop installations, solar power developer- GroenLeven is also expanding solar capacity through floating solar parks on inland waters, installing over 500,000 floating solar panels across the Netherlands.