REPowerEU

REPowerEU is a European Commission plan to end reliance on Russian fossil fuels before 2030 in response to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.^[1]

REPowerEU has three targets: saving energy, increasing clean energy production and diversifying energy supplies away from Russia. In 2021, 45% of fossil gas imports come from Russia: by 2023 this had dropped to 15%. Overall demand for gas decreased by 18% in the first two years of the plan.^[2]

Background

After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the EU set out to stop fossil fuel imports from Russia. The EU imposed sanctions on coal and oil, but did not immediately do this for gas, as it was highly dependent for that fuel on Russia. At the same time, Russia threatened to stop or cut off Europe's supply of fossil fuels.^[3] Energy prices in the EU rose sharply after the invasion.^[4]

Gas security is a combined responsibility of Member States and the commission, but the sudden phase out of Russian gas, created a supply crisis, which triggered the availability and affordability crisis in the market.^[5] The REpowerEU plan aims to establish new pipeline agreements and secure critical raw materials necessary for renewable technologies.^[6]

Policy

The REPowerEU has three major goals:

1. Save energy
2. Diversify energy supplies away from Russia
3. Accelerate the deployment of green energy

Save energy

REPowerEU sought short-term energy savings via an information campaign and prepared material for other institutions to do the same.^[7] The proposed Fit For 55 package had initially targeted a 9% reduction in final energy use by 2030. The REPowerEU proposal updated this to 13%, but the final adopted Energy Efficiency Directive had a 11.7% reduction.^[8][9]

Diversify Energy Supplies

In 2021, almost 45% of EU's aggregate demand was covered by Russia, the remaining part was imported from the rest of the world. By 2023, this ratio has decreased dramatically to 15%, which shows the commitment of the European Commission to reduce the reliance of Europe on Russia.^[10] In April 2023, the European Commission launched an aggregate demand and supply programme to meet the total demand of EU's 27 member states. This plan will enable the European Union to create interconnection with the United Kingdom, Western Balkan and North African countries to find alternative energy sources, including a liquefied natural gas (LNG) and renewable energy agreement.^[11]

Clean energy

REPowerEU sought to increase clean energy. As part of this, it set the goal to double solar PV capacity by 2025 and have 600 GW by 2030. New rules were introduced to make solar panels mandatory for new buildings. A doubling in the deployment rate of heat pumps, which use electricity rather than gas to heat houses, was also agreed. Other goals related to the speed of permitting, biomethane usage and green hydrogen.^[12] In October, the EU agreed to increase its ambition for renewables from 40% in 2030 to 42.5%, and strive to 45%.^[13]

Funding

The European Commission estimated that between 2022 and 2027, an additional €210 billion was needed to fund REPowerEU. In comparison, the fossil fuel imports from Russia had been over €100 billion each year. The main funding came from the Recovery and Resilience Facility, which is the EU stimulus package for economic recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic.^[14] Additional funding comes from selling some permits under the EU Emissions Tradings System earlier than planned, and by using money from the Innovation Fund.^[15]

See also

• Stop Bloody Energy