Climate action will increase Europe’s energy security by 8% by 2030, says the IMF

Efforts by industry and citizens to meet Europe’s emissions reduction targets are paying off, according to analysis published today (29 May) by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which estimates the continent could improve security by 2030 energy by 8%.

Higher carbon prices, energy efficiency and accelerated permitting for renewable energy sources are the key policy areas identified by the Washington-based IMF to improve Europe’s energy security.

“An illustrative policy package cutting emissions by 55% compared to 1990 levels would improve both energy security indicators by almost 8% by 2030 for all of Europe,” reads an IMF press statement, referring to the combination of identified policy areas.

For the EU, the analysis projects a reversal of a 13-year decline in the economy’s resilience to energy supply disruptions and an eight-year decline in security of energy supplies due to decades of dependence on Russian energy.

The study’s rationale is based primarily on the concept of reducing energy imports by replacing fossil fuel imports with domestically produced renewable energy sources, which would help countries shift away from non-European suppliers and increase electrification of vehicles powering vehicles and home heating systems.

The IMF paper considers the impact of climate action on energy security and simulates the impact of climate policies aimed at reducing emissions on two security measures: security of supply and the resilience of a country’s economy.

The authors assessed the risk of energy supply disruptions by combining a country’s degree of dependence on imports for energy consumption with the degree to which those energy imports diversify. Second, they analyzed how prepared a country was to cope with energy disruptions, based on the share of gross domestic product (GDP) spent on energy.

Today’s article takes issue with conservative and right-wing lawmakers in the European Parliament who have rejected several climate legislative documents, arguing that policies under the EU’s plan to achieve net neutrality by 2050, the European Green Deal, are not “credible and achievable.”

The European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) and Identity and Democracy (ID) political groups could win a significant number of seats in the upcoming European elections taking place on June 6-9, threatening to unravel the five-year climate legislation.