The State of the Energy Union is a yearly report focusing on the EU’s responses to the energy crisis, as well as on the green energy transition and future prospects. Last year’s report listed a number of challenges, and focused on future priorities, however the 2024 edition, while also considers new and emerging challenges, highlights the successful response to the the energy crisis subsequent to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Highlighting a number of statistics, the report’s summary points out the growth in renewable energy production, stating that “in the first half of 2024, half of the EU’s electricity generation came from renewable sources”. This led to a significantly reduced gas demand, the easy achievement of the EU’s winter gas storage target, and a decline of dependency on Russian gas. The latter, according to the report, is also caused by finding new partners to export energy from. The green transition, within the framework of RePowerEU, is also set to contribute EU’s greenhouse gas reduction goals, and is in line with the outcomes of last year’s COP28.
The report continues to emphasize the importance of research & innovation in energy policy, in context of the “Strategic Energy Technology Plan“, which was announced alongside the release of last year’s report. It acknowledges that most member states “reported on research-funding programmes that support the development of technologies” related to energy. In addition, it discusses international cooperation in context of research, and highlights the “R&I gap” – the gap between research and market uptake – from an energy perspective, which was also dissected in the recently released Draghi report.
With regards to future prospects, the report reinforces the EU’s commitment towards the clean transition and energy security, but highlights that alongside these objectives, enhancing competitiveness is also crucial. This focus on competition parallels the EU’s 2024-2029 strategic priorities.
