We need a European energy transition

Ruchser, Matthias
Externe Publikationen (2014)

in: Diplomatisches Magazin 8/2014, 32-35

After Russia annexed Crimea, a peninsula in the Ukraine, contrary to international law in mid-March 2014, the West immediately imposed sanctions against Russia. But how close are the economic interrelations between Russia and Germany, and with Europe? German exports to Russia, especially in technological and consumer goods, amounted to €36.1 billion in 2013. Exports from Russia amounted to €40.4 billion, but were largely limited to the supply of raw materials. Russia was therefore Germany’s biggest supplier of fossil fuels in 2013 and covered 38 per cent of the natural gas volume, just under 35 per cent of crude oil imports, and 27 per cent of coal imports. Are European economic sanctions against Russia at all possible within this context? Yes, because Russia has more to fear from economic sanctions than Europe, since the Russian export economy is based on its wealth of raw materials.

But instead of diversifying the supply sources of fossil primary energy carriers by becoming dependent on no less authoritarian or autocratic countries such as Iran, Qatar, the Caucasus, Oman or the United Arab Emirates, we need a European energy transition, or in German, Energiewende. The Energiewende does not imply becoming independent of energy imports, or replacing fossil energy imports by expanding domestic fossil energy production. The Energiewende is about the decarbonisation of our economic framework and the necessary transformation of the energy systems.