On June 28, EU energy ministers decided at a meeting held in Luxembourg on June 27, local time, to increase the share of renewable energy in the EU’s overall energy mix to 40% by 2030. Previously, the EU had set a target of at least 32% renewable energy.
The European Commissioner in charge of energy affairs, Kadri Simsson, said at a press conference after the meeting that the conflict between Russia and Ukraine has brought serious challenges to the EU's natural gas and other energy supplies. Therefore, the EU must further improve renewable energy. It is necessary to optimize the energy use efficiency at the same time.
Kadri Simsson: "We must replace natural gas with other fuels as much as possible in the industrial sector as well as in the power and heating sectors, which will reduce the use of natural gas in the short term. Of course, the fuel switch should be done so as not to jeopardize our climate goals Therefore, accelerating the deployment of renewable energy is the best solution. We also need to improve the efficiency of energy use now, and for this we have identified measures that can quickly reduce oil and gas consumption by 5%."
The energy ministers of EU countries also decided on the same day that before the arrival of this winter, the member states must continue to increase their natural gas storage capacity and make adequate plans for the possible interruption of natural gas supply.
Since the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the EU has imposed severe sanctions on Russian coal, oil and other energy sources, and decided to reduce its purchases of Russian natural gas.
But these measures led to an energy crisis in many European countries. Recently, energy prices in the EU have soared, and the supply of natural gas and other energy sources has become increasingly tight. The EU is worried that this winter, energy shortages will be further exacerbated.