European Commission Head Unveils Plan To Phase Out Russian Energy Resources

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen presented on Wednesday the REPowerEU initiative the bloc's plan to phase out Russian energy resources that provides for gas imports from other countries, and an increase in the share of renewable energy

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 18th May, 2022) European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen presented on Wednesday the REPowerEU initiative the bloc's plan to phase out Russian energy resources that provides for gas imports from other countries, and an increase in the share of renewable energy.

"We are vulnerable on relying on Russia for importing our fossil fuels, we must now reduce as rapidly as possible our reliance on Russia in energy. Today, we present our plan to realize these objectives, with the plan that is called REPowerEU. We can replace Russian fossil fuels by working on three levels: on the demand side, saving energy, on the supply side, diversifying our energy imports away from fossil fuels and accelerating the clean energy transition," von der Leyen told a press conference.

The bloc has reduced the share of Russian gas in total consumption to 26% last month compared to 40% in April 2021, the EU commission head said.

"Energy savings are the quickest and the cheapest way to address the current energy crisis. We will therefore increase the EU energy efficiency target for 2030 form 9% to 13%. Then, there is the massive investment in renewable energy, the biggest task. Here, we are increasing our target for 2030 from 40% renewable energy to 45% renewable energy," the official said.

Given that the plan's implementation will require "massive investments and reforms," the EU will allocate up to 300 billion Euros ($315.4 billion) for energy reforms, she said.

"We are mobilizing up to 300 billion euros prominently � 75 billion euros will be in grants and approximately 225 billion in loans," she added.

Later in the day, the EU published a statement about the REPowerEU initiative where it reveals the plans to introduce "short-term behavioral changes" which could cut gas and oil demand by 5% encouraging European countries to take set of specific measures targeting households and industry.

For example, the EU plans to switch to hydrogen which can replace natural gas, coal, and oil in hard-to-decarbonize industries and transport sectors.

Major hydrogen corridors will be developed in the Mediterranean and the North Sea, the statement said, adding that the bloc sets a target of 10 million tonnes of domestic renewable hydrogen production and 10 million tonnes of imports by 2030.

The EU also introduces a Greening of Freight Package aimed at increasing energy efficiency in the transport sector. In particular, it is planned to consider a legislative initiative to increase the share of zero-emission vehicles in public and corporate fleets.