Increasing the EU’s Energy Independence

The report argues that implementing cost-effective energy efficiency and renewable energy measures could halve the EU's net natural gas imports and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 49% relative to 1990 levels by 2030. It identifies the buildings sector as having the highest potential for savings, followed by energy production and industry, while noting that domestic production, including shale gas, is unlikely to increase substantially.

• The EU's reliance on imported natural gas increased from 45 per cent in 1990 to 66 per cent in 2012, driven by rising demand and the depletion of low-cost domestic gas fields.
• The buildings sector represents the largest potential for natural gas reduction; cost-effective efficiency and renewable energy improvements could displace 58 per cent of its gas consumption by 2030, which equals 23 per cent of total EU natural gas consumption.
• In the energy production sector, accelerating renewable energy growth and improving efficiency could reduce natural gas consumption by 63 per cent by 2030, accounting for 19 per cent of the EU's total current natural gas consumption.
• The industrial sector could achieve a 20 per cent reduction in natural gas consumption by 2030 through the deployment of existing cost-effective technologies, representing 5 per cent of total EU natural gas consumption.
• The report concludes that combining these measures could reduce the EU's net natural gas imports by more than half and lower greenhouse gas emissions by 49 per cent compared to 1990 levels, exceeding the 40 per cent reduction target of the EU's 2030 Framework.
• Substantial increases in domestic natural gas production are considered unlikely before 2030, including the potential for shale gas due to technical, economic, and environmental obstacles.
• Import dependence varies significantly across the EU; while some countries are net exporters, six nations—Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Slovakia, and Bulgaria—are entirely dependent on Russian imports.

APA

de Vos, R., van Breevoort, P., Hagemann, M., & Höhne, N. (2014). Increasing the EU’s Energy Independence. World Resources Institute. https://wriorg.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/uploads/ecofys-ocn-2014-increasing-the-eu-s-energy-independence.pdf

Chicago

de Vos, Rolf, Pieter van Breevoort, Markus Hagemann, and Niklas Höhne. Increasing the EU’s Energy Independence. World Resources Institute, 2014. https://wriorg.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/uploads/ecofys-ocn-2014-increasing-the-eu-s-energy-independence.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=de Vos |first1=Rolf |last2=van Breevoort |first2=Pieter |last3=Hagemann |first3=Markus |last4=Höhne |first4=Niklas |title=Increasing the EU’s Energy Independence |publisher=World Resources Institute |date=October 2014 |url=https://wriorg.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/uploads/ecofys-ocn-2014-increasing-the-eu-s-energy-independence.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{devos2014increasing, author = {de Vos, Rolf and van Breevoort, Pieter and Hagemann, Markus and Höhne, Niklas}, title = {{Increasing the EU’s Energy Independence}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, year = {2014}, month = oct, url = {https://wriorg.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/uploads/ecofys-ocn-2014-increasing-the-eu-s-energy-independence.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }