DG Energy Newsletter

AggregateEU has been the EU’s central effort to diversify its energy imports away from Russian fossil fuels and successfully contributed to our security of supply in 2023. But, what exactly is it? How did it come about? And, what has it achieved?

Today, under the AggregateEU platform for joint gas purchasing, the Commission is launching a first mid-term tender, where buyers will be able to submit their gas demand for multiple 6-month periods running from April 2024 to October 2029.

The new 'Citizens’ Engagement Platform' is an online forum for people to share their views, experiences and ideas on topical issues related to EU policies. The first topic for debate is energy efficiency, one of the main pillars of EU energy policy.

Based on its impact assessment on possible pathways to make the EU climate neutral by 2050, the Commission has recommended a 90% net greenhouse gas emissions reduction by 2040 compared to 1990 levels. A legislative proposal will be made by the next Commission, after the European elections.

The Industrial Carbon Management Communication, adopted on 6 February, provides details on how technologies that can capture CO2 or remove it directly from the atmosphere and then store or utilise it, and could contribute to reducing emissions by 90% by 2040 and reaching climate neutrality by 2050.

The new European Industrial Alliance will aim to accelerate the development, demonstration and deployment of Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) in Europe by the early 2030s.

This new digital tool allows viewers to interactively discover how the EU funding is distributed across the CCUS sector, what projects have received support and how these projects contribute to drive the European clean-tech innovation in the sector.

The 400 kV double-circuit overhead electricity line between Ostrołęka-Stanisławów is the latest investment coming online to support the Baltic States in their efforts to synchronise with the continental European network.

The provisional political agreement reached on the Net-Zero Industry Act (NZIA) will help the EU become home to clean technologies and make significant strides towards building a strong domestic manufacturing capacity of those technologies.

Energy ministers met in Greece on 19 January to discuss the region’s priorities in energy infrastructure and market integration, resulting in a set of Ministerial conclusions, an updated action plan on electricity and renewable energy, and an updated action plan on gases.

In 2022, the share of renewable energy sources in transport reached 9.6% at EU level, a 0.5 percentage point increase compared with 2021 (9.1%), but still below the highest level ever reached in 2020 (10.3%).

In 2022, the number of battery-only electric passenger cars in the EU countries almost reached 3.0 million, which is a +55% increase compared with 2021 (1.9 million).

In 2022, the EU’s reliance on fossil fuels for its overall energy supply stood at 70.9%, as illustrated by the ratio of fossil fuels in gross available energy (the total energy demand of a country or region).

By the end of December 2023, EU countries, industry, the power sector and households, had reduced the EU’s total gas demand by 101 billion cubic meters (18%) since August 2022, compared to the 5-year average. (source: ENER Chief Economist Team, 29/1/2024).

Watch now the new Energy Poverty Advisory Hub videos, where the interviewees talk about different projects, their challenges and successes.

DG Energy Director Paula Pinho delves into the ambitious plans of REPowerEU on the new Urban Reverb podcast by the Smart Cities Marketplace. Listen and discover how the EU is rapidly reducing its dependence on fossil fuels, while accelerating the green energy transition.