, Columnist
Europe’s Green Protectionism Will Worsen its Energy Security
Far from guaranteeing a supply of renewable technologies, this latest move will only delay the decarbonization of our economies.
The earth is heating up.
Photographer: Angel Garcia/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
It’s hardly surprising that the year after a war on Europe’s borders cut off its largest source of natural gas, Brussels should be looking to armor-plate its supply chain for green technologies.
The numbers look stark. In 2021, the European Union got about 42% of its imported gas from Russia. It depended on China for 64% of its wind turbine imports, 89% of its solar panels, and 43% of its electric cars. Beijing is even more dominant in raw materials for the energy transition, with more than 75% of the world’s production capacity for lithium-ion batteries, according to BloombergNEF.