EU, US committed to accelerating the global transition to clean energy

The European Union and the United States are jointly committed to Europe’s energy security and sustainability and to accelerating the global transition to clean energy, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and US President Joe Biden said in a joint statement on January 28 on US-EU cooperation on energy security.

“We also share the objective of ensuring the energy security of Ukraine and the progressive integration of Ukraine with the EU gas and electricity markets,” the statement read.

The EU and the United States cooperate closely on energy policy, decarbonisation and security of supply in the US-EU Energy Council. The EU’s and the United States’ commitments to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement, through clean energy, in particular renewables, energy efficiency, and technologies, provide a path to energy security and reduced dependence on fossil fuels, the statement read, adding that the current challenges to European security underscore our commitment to accelerating and carefully managing the transition from fossil fuels to clean energy.

Over the last decade, the EU has invested in diversification of supply through infrastructure and reinforcement of its internal energy networks, increasing the resilience and flexibility of EU energy markets, von der Leyen and Biden said. The European Commission will intensify work with Member States for security of supply, within transparent and competitive gas markets in a manner compatible with long-term climate goals and reaching net-zero emissions by 2050.

“While that process intensifies during this critical decade, we are committed to working closely together to overcome today’s challenges of security of supply and high prices in energy markets,” the statement read.

“We commit to intensifying our strategic energy cooperation for security of supply and will work together to make available reliable, and affordable energy supplies to citizens and businesses in the EU and its neighbourhood,” it added.

The EU Commission President and US President noted that the US and the EU are working jointly towards continued, sufficient, and timely supply of natural gas to the EU from diverse sources across the globe to avoid supply shocks, including those that could result from a further Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The United States is already the largest supplier of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to the EU. “We are collaborating with governments and market operators on supply of additional volumes of natural gas to Europe from diverse sources across the globe. LNG in the short-term can enhance security of supply while we continue to enable the transition to net zero emissions,” the statement read, adding that the European Commission will work for improved transparency and utilization of LNG terminals in the EU.

“We intend to work together, in close collaboration with EU Member States, on LNG supplies for security of supply and contingency planning. We will also exchange views on the role of storage in security of supply,” the statement read, adding, “More broadly, we call on all major energy producer countries to join us in ensuring world energy markets are stable and well-supplied. This work has already started, and we will take it forward at the meeting of the US-EU Energy Council on February 7”.