Page 15 - European Energy Innovation - summer 2019 publication

Summer 2019 European Energy Innovation 15

COMMUNICATION

Towards a European
Energy Shield

By Michel Derdevet, Secretary General at Enedis and Professor at Sciences Po Paris and the
College of Europe in Bruges

The energy transition is not just about CO2 released into
the atmosphere. The fight against global warming must
be accompanied by a social support that is worthy of the
name. This is a crucial continental challenge for which
Europe itself is the only relevant area, as Member States
cannot resolve it individually.

Between 1990 and today, Europe’s dependence on
energy imports has risen from 44.2% of its gross energy
consumption to 53.6%. With a price per barrel fluctuating
between US$52 and US$84 last year, the European Union
spends more than €300 billion per year on its supply
of CO2-emitting fossil fuels (coal, oil, gas), which it does
not have (or has very little of) in its subsoil. Oil and gas
are currently used by a large majority of the 500 million
Europeans as fuel for travelling and heating.

Reducing these massive historical energy imports
comes under the broad objective of achieving energy
independence and sovereignty, of fighting global warming,
of reducing Europe’s ‘carbon footprint’, and above all of
protecting Europeans in a situation of energy poverty.

And yet, energy poverty remains a blind spot for the imported by Europeans to avoid environmental dumping.
Energy Union. The establishment in January 2018 of the
EU Energy Poverty Observatory has not, for the time being, At a time when the United States is stepping back from
given rise to a European definition of energy poverty. This the Paris Agreement and when China’s environmental
in turn means that it is not possible to produce an exact initiatives have ulterior economic motives, an EU border
inventory or to develop a joint action in this area. carbon tax would finally restore the virtuous circle: a
relocation of European industry that takes better account
European directives for opening up energy markets have of the environment.
not really made it possible to keep prices down. The
creation of a European energy shield would be the most Much is at stake. Not least, preserving our planet and
appropriate tool for a Europe that protects its citizens, enabling European citizens to reconnect with the
according to their wishes. European project. l

This mechanism would require a common definition of Contact information
energy poverty, as well as a European Energy Solidarity
Fund, fuelled by a consistent “flagging” of European Fund Djémila BOULASHA
for Strategic Investments (EFSI) resources to support all Head of European Public Affairs
the initiatives of those at the front line in the fight against Email: djemila.boulasha@enedis.fr
energy poverty, including operators and local authorities. Mob: +33 6 07 51 74 47
The shield goes hand in hand with a real carbon price www.enedis.fr
established at Europe’s borders, which would complement
the existing carbon market via its application to imported
fossil fuels and to the carbon content of products

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