The EU will end its dependency on Russian energy by stopping the import of Russian gas and oil and phasing out Russian nuclear energy, while ensuring stable energy supplies and prices across the Union. The REPowerEU Roadmap, presented on May 6 by the European Commission, paves the way to ensure the EU’s full energy independence from Russia.
Despite the significant progress achieved under the REPowerEU Plan and via sanctions since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, in 2024 the EU saw a rebound in Russian gas imports. More coordinated actions are therefore needed, as the EU’s overdependency on Russian energy imports is a security threat.
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said: “The war in Ukraine has brutally exposed the risks of blackmail, economic coercion and price shocks. With REPowerEU, we have diversified our energy supply and drastically reduced Europe’s former dependency on Russian fossil fuels. It is now time for Europe to completely cut off its energy ties with an unreliable supplier. And energy that comes to our continent should not pay for a war of aggression against Ukraine. We owe this to our citizens, to our companies and to our brave Ukrainian friends.”
The roadmap sets out a gradual removal of Russian oil, gas and nuclear energy from the EU markets which will take place in a coordinated and secure manner as we advance our energy transition. The measures have been designed to preserve the security of the EU’s energy supply while limiting any impact on prices and markets.
The Commission will work with the Member States to ensure that the EU-wide phaseout of Russian energy imports will be gradual and well-coordinated across the Union. They will be asked to prepare national plans by the end of this year setting out how they will contribute to phasing out imports of Russian gas, nuclear energy and oil
The European Biogas Association (EBA) has welcomed the publication of the updated REPowerEU roadmap by the European Commission as a decisive step towards accelerating the continent’s energy transition.
“Today’s announcement sends a clear signal: renewable gases will be indispensable for Europe’s energy future,” said Harmen Dekker, director general of the EBA. “The roadmap confirms the long-term role of biogases in the EU’s energy mix. However, the sector needs strong and tangible progress and therefore urges the Commission to be ambitious and set out concrete actions in the forthcoming legislative proposals that will follow this roadmap, in order to accelerate biogas production and integration in the Member States.”
As of 2025, the global LNG supplies are foreseen to grow rapidly, while gas demand will decrease. With the full implementation of the energy transition framework and the Action Plan for Affordable Energy, the EU is expected to replace up to 100 billion cubic meters of natural gas by 2030, which means a decrease in demand by 40-50 bcm by 2027. At the same time, LNG capacities are expected to increase by around 200 bcm by 2028, which is five times more than current EU imports of Russian gas.
Source: European Commission / European Biogas Association (EBA)
