According to a new report, Europe can dramatically reduce its dependence on imported fossil fuels by introducing electricity technologies.
Electric vehicles, heat pumps and renewable energies could reduce the worldwide dependence on imported fossil fuels by 70% to replace them with transport, heating and performance, says Energy Think Tank Ember. Ember found that they would also save the importers an estimated 1.3 trillion dollars (€ 1.14 trillion) a year. The Think Tank refers to this trio of technologies as a “electrotech”.
Depending on Russian fossil fuels
Russia's complete invasion of Ukraine in 2022 revealed one of the largest weaknesses of Europe from Europe's trust in imported fossil fuels to supply its vehicles, heat its buildings and to advance its industries.
Three years later, Europe is still enthusiastic about foreign oil and gas regulations. Many European countries are aimed at most of their primary energy needs of these imports of fossil fuels. The federal states include Italy (77%), Spain (74%), Germany (67%) and France (51%), as Ember stated.
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“Fossil importing nations are like frogs in boiling water, which does not find the gradually increasing danger,” said Kingsmill Bond, Energy Strategist at Ember. “The import dependence has been increasing for decades, and now Donald Trump has brought the heat to a boil.”
Europe has more than halved its imports of Russian fossil fuels since Moscow entered Ukraine. It shifted its dependencies across the Atlantic.
In 2024, the EU imported more oil and gas from the USA than any other country. Since Donald Trump's re -election, the concerns about this dependency have increased.
Trump's tariff wars and rising regional conflicts have put global trade in a greater threat than at some point since the Second World War. In view of the increasingly volatile global markets, “Electrotech offers the fastest escape route,” said Bond.
Look east
The rapid introduction of electric vehicles would make the biggest contribution to European energy independence, the report. By cutting oil consumption in road traffic, EVS could reduce imports by a third. The scaling of solar and wind adds another 23%. The replacement of imported fossil fuels in buildings with heat pumps contributes another 14%.
In 2024, China was far from the largest exporter of solar collectors, batteries and electric vehicles to the EU.
Although the increase in the electrical share of Europe could deepen the trust of the region in China, this provides a less significant threat to energy security than fossil fuel imports, the report.
Fossil fuels must be imported and burned without a break. However, electrical technologies only need an import – for example a solar panel or a battery – to secure energy for years, if not decades.
The quick introduction of electrical technologies will also be of crucial importance for the achievement of the EU goal of carbon neutrality by 2050.
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