The 18th Sustainable Energy Week began in Brussels on Tuesday 11 June, with Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson and Belgian Energy Minister Tinne Van der Straeten, head of the Energy Council, in attendance to highlight the development of zero-emission energy solutions to boost Europe’s competitiveness.
In the wake of the European elections (see EUROPE 13428/7), Commissioner Simson was keen to review the progress made over the last 5 years on the energy front, particularly following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, such as the reform of the electricity and gas markets and the establishment of an economic framework for hydrogen.
She placed particular emphasis on the development of electricity networks.
“In just one year, we have taken the issue of electricity networks out of a blind spot and placed it at the top of our priorities. (...) The investment needed is unprecedented, both in transmission and distribution”, she declared, before adding that the EU was “at the start of a new wave of investment in networks”.
The subject was one of the most important priorities of the Belgian Presidency of the EU Council, enabling, according to Mrs Van der Straeten, “the foundations to be laid for the energy agenda in the years to come”.
Morten Petersen MEP (Renew Europe, Danish), Vice-Chairman of the European Parliament’s ITRE Committee, also called at the opening ceremony for continued work on networks to promote “unity” within a genuine energy union and a single European market for the sector.
He also stressed the need to ensure the EU’s economic security, to reduce dependence on Chinese imports, and to put in place a genuine common European financing mechanism to eliminate “the unhealthy race for State aid subsidies”.
The Vice-President of the European Investment Bank (EIB), Thomas Östros, reaffirmed the Bank’s commitment to continuing to support the financing of sustainable energy solutions.
According to him, “almost €50 billion of our total of €88 billion has been earmarked for green investments in 2023, which is more than double what we spent 4 years ago”, in particular to meet the objectives of the ‘REPowerEU’ plan.
He also pointed out that a third of the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions depends on technologies that are not yet available or not sufficiently competitive in terms of cost. “This means that we need to capitalise on technologies that are not to be found on the shelf. We need to invest in research, development and innovation, in experiments and pilot projects”, he concluded. (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)