07 May 2025 - Yesterday, the European Commission released a roadmap detailing how to phase out remaining EU imports of Russian fossil fuels by 2027.
Ursula Woodburn, Director of CLG Europe said:
“This is a very important step towards reducing Europe’s dangerous dependence on Russian gas, but it should not lead to a reliance on other gas imports. Europe must develop a decarbonised and reliable energy system, focused on our own resources rather than volatile and polluting imported fossil fuels to increase security and competitiveness. This means taking energy efficiency seriously and cashing in on the huge opportunities available to reduce energy consumption and prices, including using technology developed by leading European businesses. This also means ensuring long-term investment in Europe’s grids to improve connections and integrate more renewables and storage.”
Romain Pardo, Senior Programme Manager of CLG Europe said:
“Increasing the EU's energy security in the long term requires structural reforms and concrete actions fit to scale up renewable energy and energy efficiency rather than shifting dependency on fossil fuel imports. Over-reliance on LNG gas imports as a means to phase out dependency from Russian gas comes with various risks. First of all, potential carbon emissions could be extensive, locking the EU into a high emissions pathway at a time when it is critical to direct investment towards scaling up clean energy. Such an approach also fails to capture the risk of stranded assets in the fossil fuel sector.”
This roadmap represents the next stage in the EU’s broader energy security strategy and builds on the REPowerEU plan introduced in May 2022. Previously, CLG Europe issued a letter with over 150 business leaders urging the EU to strengthen energy security and resilience by accelerating the green transition.
The newly released roadmap proposes phasing out Russian gas by 2027 through demand reduction and a faster net-zero transition. It also foresees legislation to end new short-term contracts by 2025 and long-term contracts by 2027, while aiming to avoid new dependencies by limiting future LNG imports.
