The climate crisis cannot wait — We have to diversify away from fossil fuels.
Renewable energy is our springboard towards net-zero CO2 emissions.
And #REPowerEU is our plan for accelerating the green transition and ensuring independence and security of energy supply.#WEF22 pic.twitter.com/LoNW7cyzWI
— European Commission (@EU_Commission) May 24, 2022
European Commission’s President von der Leyen said during the World Economic Forum, that the climate crisis cannot wait, and the world has to diversify away from fossil fuels.
According to Ms. von der Leyen, renewable energy is the springboard towards net-zero CO2 emissions, and REPowerEU is EU’s plan for accelerating the green transition and ensuring independence and security of energy supply.
European Commission’s President also informed that she and US President Biden agreed to significantly step up LNG deliveries from the US to Europe.
More LNG and pipeline gas will also come from the Middle East and North Africa. New LNG terminals in Greece, Cyprus and Poland will soon become operational, as will new interconnectors. And the connecting pipeline infrastructure will form the core of our future hydrogen corridors
In addition, Ms. von der Leyen noted that the economies of the future will no longer rely on coal and oil, but on lithium for batteries; on silicon metal for chips; on rare earth permanent magnets for electric vehicles and wind turbines.
And the new green and digital transitions will massively increase the world’s need for these materials. However, she warned that access to these materials is not a given.
For many of them, we rely on a handful of producers in the world. So, we must avoid falling into the same trap as with oil and gas. We should not replace old dependencies with new ones
For this reason, strong international partnerships can ensure the resilience of the supply chains, with the Commission having already secured strategic raw materials partnerships with countries like Canada.
