Comment by Nikos Mantzaris in an article by Penny Chalatsi for insider.gr on the issue of the EU and Greece’s phasing out of Russian energy imports.
Nikos Mantzaris, Senior Policy Analyst at The Green Tank, referred to the RePowerEU plan that set the initial goal of reducing dependence on Russian gas by 2/3 by the end of 2022. As he pointed out, this target was reviewed with Member State leaders agreeing to a full phase out by 2027. However, a recent independent report co-signed by think tanks suggests that the end of reliance from Russian gas (152 bcm in 2020) is feasible by 2025, even without new fossil gas storage infrastructure.
For Greece in particular, he stressed that despite the rapid increase in the use of fossil fuel in recent years, our country has one of the lowest fossil fuel shares in the final energy consumption in the EU-27 and at the same time one of the lowest levels of dependence on Russian gas. Therefore, our country can reduce its reliance on Russian gas imports more easily than other EU countries. A key prerequisite to this direction is investment in renewable energy sources, heat pumps and energy saving, as any other planning (new gas-fired power plants, gas storage infrastructure or East Med-type transmission projects) would lead to stranded assets and be environmentally destructive.
The article was published on March 25, 2022 under the title “How easy is it for the EU and Greece to end reliance from of Russian energy imports?”
You can read the full article (in Greek) here.
