MORE RENEWABLES, LESS INFLATION

The document analyzes the link between the EU's dependence on Russian fossil fuels and its current inflationary crisis, highlighting how wind and solar energy have provided significant cost savings. It advocates for the adoption of the RePowerEU proposal to increase renewable energy and energy efficiency targets to ensure long-term energy security and maintain the EU's global climate leadership.

• High dependence on Russian gas imports, which accounted for 41% of EU gas imports in 2020, is the primary driver of the EU's current inflationary crisis. In September 2022, energy prices were 40.8% higher than the previous year, contributing to 36% of the EU's overall inflation.
• Between March and September 2022, installed wind and solar capacity saved the EU €99 billion by avoiding the import of 70 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas. This includes a year-on-year increase in wind and solar generation of 39 TWh, which alone avoided €11 billion in gas costs.
• Nineteen EU countries saw record wind and solar electricity generation from March to September 2022. Poland experienced the highest percentage year-on-year increase (+48.5% and +5 TWh), while Spain had the largest absolute increase (7.4 TWh), avoiding approximately €1.7 billion in gas costs.
• The RePowerEU proposal suggests increasing the Renewable Energy Directive (RED) target to 45% of the overall energy mix and raising the energy efficiency reduction target from 9% to 13%. While the European Parliament supported these and even proposed a 14.5% efficiency target, the Council has delayed discussions.
• A strategy based on gas diversification is unlikely to resolve the energy cost crisis over the next three to five years due to tight global LNG markets and low additional supply. Such a strategy also risks creating a long-term gas oversupply based on 2030 demand projections.
• The EU's focus on securing new gas imports undermines its global climate credibility and exposes it to accusations of hypocrisy, particularly after committing to end public financing of fossil fuels at COP26. This has been cited by South African officials as a reason to avoid pursuing climate ambition.

APA

DE POUS, P., PATULEIA, A., BROWN, S., & ROSSLOWE, C. (2022). MORE RENEWABLES, LESS INFLATION. Ember. https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2024/11/E3G-EMBER-Briefing-More-renewables-less-inflation.pdf

Chicago

DE POUS, PIETER, ARTUR PATULEIA, SARAH BROWN, and CHRIS ROSSLOWE. MORE RENEWABLES, LESS INFLATION. Ember, 2022. https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2024/11/E3G-EMBER-Briefing-More-renewables-less-inflation.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=DE POUS |first1=PIETER |last2=PATULEIA |first2=ARTUR |last3=BROWN |first3=SARAH |last4=ROSSLOWE |first4=CHRIS |title=MORE RENEWABLES, LESS INFLATION |publisher=Ember |date=October 2022 |url=https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2024/11/E3G-EMBER-Briefing-More-renewables-less-inflation.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{depous2022more, author = {DE POUS, PIETER and PATULEIA, ARTUR and BROWN, SARAH and ROSSLOWE, CHRIS}, title = {{MORE RENEWABLES, LESS INFLATION}}, institution = {Ember}, year = {2022}, month = oct, url = {https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2024/11/E3G-EMBER-Briefing-More-renewables-less-inflation.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }