Eu green energy in the context of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict: goals, realities, prospects

Korovnikova N.A.

Abstract

The growth of international tension as a result of the sanctions confrontation between the countries of the European Union (EU) and the Russian Federation, the escalation of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, and the deployment of a military operation in Ukraine, in which the European powers were involved, have an inevitable destructive effect on all system-forming sectors of the European economy, the most important of which is energy and its «green» component. In this context, the paper considers the key provisions and goals of the «green strategy », the foundations of which were laid in the pre-conflict period of 2019–2021 in the programs «European Green Deal» and «Fit for 55» (including the achievement of carbon neutrality by 2050), which later, in 2022, have been supplemented with even more ambitious provisions formulated in the plan for the EU by the International Energy Agency and in the REPowerEU plan, the main goal of which is to reduce and gradually phase out energy imports from Russia. The article shows the contradictions of the EU energy transition in line with the «green deal» against the backdrop of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, namely: the approval of the «green sign» of the EU for nuclear and gas energy, as well as the partial revitalization of the coal industry in the Union countries. It highlights that the prospects for EU green energy in the current conflict-generating conditions depend on a number of factors, including the search for new alternatives and partners in the energy sector; ambiguous evaluation of the «green course»; the threat of a split with the US, and divergence within the EU «with a green color». In conclusion, the article argues that the future of European green energy largely depends on further developments in the international arena.

Keywords

«green deal»; green energy; energy transition; Russian-Ukrainian conflict; European Union.

DOI: 10.31249/rsm/2023.03.05

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