European pathways in energy transition

The World Energy Council’s Secretary General & CEO, Dr Angela Wilkinson, and Regional Vice Chair Europe, Mr Alexandre Perra, met on today in Brussels with the Directorate General Energy (DG ENER) at the European Commission. The productive discussions, attended by Dr Klaus-Dieter Borchardt, Deputy Director General Energy, and his colleagues, also served as the launch of the World Energy Council’s 2020 Issues Monitor.

The meetings featured opportunities for cooperation between the World Energy Council, whose European chapter extends from Portugal to Russia and includes 25 out of the 27 European Union Member States, and the DG ENER, European Commission, in support of its ambitious plans for climate neutrality and the Green Deal.

The Council’s work on global and regional scenarios aligns with the work of DG ENER as it begins a new cycle in implementing the Green Deal across Europe and on an international basis and was a prominent topic for discussion throughout the meetings. Another point of interest was the Council’s flexible Energy Transition Toolkit, designed to address the social impacts agenda and engage broader communities in energy transition.

Dr Borchardt welcomed the Council’s Vision 2025, focused on humanizing energy transition, and its alignment with the central points of the Green Deal, ensuring societal acceptability and addressing the social impacts of energy transition. Discussion included the multi-local social impacts agenda emerging in response to the accelerating pace of technological innovation and climate mitigation policies across the European region. There was mutual recognition by both parties of social acceptability-related challenges and opportunities, and the need to more effectively enable and engage active customers in energy transition.

The meetings also uncovered mutual ambition to secure demand for clean hydrogen-based fuels, and the challenge facing the development of ecosystems and global value chains from the user-centric system perspective.

Meetings were followed by a presentation of the World Energy Council’s European Scenarios and discussion between the Council’s European Member committees and DG ENER representatives.