Russia's invasion of Ukraine has "changed the energy landscape fundamentally" and high energy prices are now likely to remain an issue for some time, a German official has said.
Patrick Graichen said "a joint exercise" of "governments through regulation, citizens through action and companies" was needed to lessen the EU's dependence on Russian oil and gas.
Mr Graichen, the state secretary of the German federal ministry for economic affairs and climate action, said: “Russia’s atrocious war has changed the energy landscape fundamentally and it will stay like that.”
"We are now entering a phase of high fossil fuel energy prices and that will last," he told a livestreamed event on energy saving hosted by the International Energy Agency (IEA) and European Commission on Thursday.
Ditte Juul Jorgensen, European Commission director general for energy, said the situation required the creation of “a set of options, the things that can be done quickly and immediately and really have an impact, without waiting for regulation”.
She said that “the one thing each of us can do is to save energy. It lowers the energy bill, it helps our climate and of course it helps Ukraine.”
The EU has pledged to stop using Russian fuels by 2027, but in the short term remains dependent on Moscow for 26 per cent of its oil imports and 40 per cent of its gas. If Russia were to cut off gas supplies, or if the EU sanctioned Russian gas, wide emergency measures would be needed to slash use of the fuel, such as factory closures and potential energy rationing.
International Energy Agency executive director Fatih Birol said the energy crisis could last for some time "because Russia has been for years and years the number one oil exporter in the world and number one gas exporter".
Europeans, he said, “may be left with the choice of either government utilities having to ration themselves, cut the energy to consumers, or we do it ourselves, pushing the energy efficiency button”.
He made nine suggestions in this regard, including turning down the heating, using air conditioning more carefully and working from home more often to reduce vehicle journeys.
Energy saving has long been needed to meet climate goals, but months of soaring energy prices and a scramble to cut reliance on Russian fossil fuels following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine have pushed the issue up the political agenda.
‘Real hit’
On the energy crisis, Minister for the Environment Eamon Ryan said "the real hit" would come "in the autumn when the hedging of bills can no longer provide protection against the five-fold increase in gas prices".
He said there was “some time at a political level over these coming months” to work on “a cross-European approach as part of this war effort, but also preparing and getting ready for an autumn and winter that could be difficult”.
Austria's minister for climate action Leonore Gewessler said that "we are in a state of addiction to fossil fuels", as had been highlighted by the impact of the war.
Claude Turmes, Luxembourg's minister for energy and spatial planning, said that in order to get energy reductions in the volumes necessary, "we must be courageous and work towards" co-ordinated EU action, such as on speed limits.
Mark Watts, executive director of C40 Cities, a global network of mayors, pointed out that all municipal buildings in Amsterdam had reduced their temperature by 3 degrees. He proposed that all city speed limits be reduced to 25km/h. Additional reporting: PA
