The Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament sent a letter to the European Commission, on Thursday 3 March, calling for an “emergency strategy” to invest starting now in a highly energy efficient economy based on 100% renewable energy.
Stressing that the EU “cannot fund Russian military aggression against Ukraine via its own energy imports”, the Greens/EFA welcomed the Commission’s efforts to reduce the EU’s energy dependence on Russian gas.
However, they said that the EU’s new energy strategy “cannot be based on more gas only, especially liquefied natural gas (LNG), as it seems to be the case for now”.
They therefore call for the adoption, as soon as possible, of an “EU Energy Independence Act” to increase funding for energy efficiency and renewable energy.
Through it, each member state should commit to spending at least 1% of its annual GDP on energy efficiency measures and the development of renewables, the letter says.
Greens/EFA also propose to urgently establish an “EU Energy Independence Facility” along the lines of the ‘Recovery and Resilience Facility’ adopted in response to the economic shock of the Covid-19 pandemic. This instrument would be designed to mobilise investments to accelerate the energy transition and make the EU truly energy independent by 2030.
Other measures include the introduction of a tax on energy companies that have made windfall profits due to high prices, the introduction of a bold plan for major renovations or the launch of a “green critical raw materials strategy” as well.
See the letter: https://aeur.eu/f/m5 (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)