REPowerEU as a Crisis Response: Immediate Diversification and Green Transition

Abstract

The EU has been facing an energy crisis on behalf of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. To substitute Russian fossil fuels, the EU has built its response on the European Green Deal (EGD), the REPowerEU plan. The plan has three main pillars: diversification of energy supplies, green energy investments, and promoting energy saving. The article focuses on the performance of the REPowerEU Plan by analyzing it both internally and externally. The article provides a background for how the REPowerEU Plan is built upon the EGD by examining the links between these two strategies. Then, the article focuses on these three pillars. First, the article provides an insight into the diversification policy by referencing LNG and pipeline agreements and critical raw material agreements for renewables. Second, the article provides an overview of the EU’s green energy investments since the initiation of the REPowerEU Plan. Third, energy saving is analyzed through the internal practices of the EU. The article emphasizes that the REPowerEU plan entails a combination of short-term and long-term measures in the energy crisis response. Though the plan has contributed to the EGD’s overarching goals in a broader context, its primary focus seems to secure the EU’s energy demand. In this sense, the article draws a conclusion that underlines the imbalance between the green transition and the immediate needs.