Citing Josep Borrell, EU foreign affairs chief, the EU countries cannot become independent from Russian gas imports immediately. However, the EU authorities have to draw up a roadmap to say farewell to Russian energy companies.
The EU leaders have admitted that the common energy policy has to be revised to curb dependence on Russian liquefied natural gas. The chief of European diplomacy is certain that the authorities should employ all available options.
According to Josep Borrell’s estimates, Russian gas supplies account for 40% of the total gas imports to the eurozone. Thus, European buyers cannot abandon Russian suppliers all of a sudden. At the same time, the EU policymakers should make determined efforts to phase out consumption of Russian gas.
On March 3, the International Energy Agency (IEA) suggested ten steps to subdue the dominance of Russian gas suppliers in Europe. The IEA advises EU buyers to reject new contracts with Russia, to replace Russian gas with energy from alternative sources, to ramp up electricity production rates through nuclear and bio energy which is a great alternative to liquefied natural gas. The issue of renewable energy can be solved by building wind and solar power stations.
Apart from that, the IEA plan includes industrial energy efficiency improvements, energy system diversification and decarbonization, and short-term windfall tax measures. These are efficient options of protecting energy consumers from inflated prices, the agency underscores.
Experts at the IEA believe that such measures will cut EU gas imports by 50 billion m3 per year. The agency estimated that the EU imported 155 billion m3 of liquefied natural gas from Russia last year, which represents 45% of EU gas imports and 40% of the global consumption.
