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Europe Faces Bleak Winter Energy Crisis Years in the Making

  • “It could get very ugly unless we act quickly,” Snam CEO says
  • Green push has meant years of underinvestment in fossil fuels
The CF Industries Holdings Inc. fertilizer plant which shut down in the U.K.
The CF Industries Holdings Inc. fertilizer plant which shut down in the U.K.Photographer: Anthony Devlin/Bloomberg

Europe is bracing for a tough winter as an energy crisis that’s been years in the making leaves the continent relying on the vagaries of the weather.

Faced with surging gas and electricity prices, countries from the U.K. to Germany will need to count on mild temperatures to get through the heating season. Europe is short of gas and coal and if the wind doesn’t blow, the worst-case scenario could play out: widespread blackouts that force businesses and factories to shut.