The Future of European Competitiveness
What was of interest at the discussion between Professor Mario Draghi and IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol at the IEA headquarters in Paris?
Here there are the many notes I took during the lively discussion:
Decarbonization is a source of growth.
Europe needs to be consistent, ambitious goals need ambitious policies. There is a need to harmonize industrial, climate, and trade policies.
Investments in climate will repay by themselves. Innovation is the backbone of the report.
3 historic mistakes: overreliance on Russia’s cheap gas, switching off nuclear, and dropping the ball in solar production.
Our system prices energy on the most volatile part, natural gas. We should detach the price of energy from the price of gas by long-term contract arrangements.
Coming year's EU gas prices are going to drop as the market is rebalancing. It is a dangerous breathing space if we go back instead of taking the time to build on electricity expansions and building grids. A make or brake time.
Energy has become the 'Cash Cow' of many governments through taxation
Dependences can be broken by innovation and circularity in the long term. In the short term, subsidize production of clean technologies is necessary.
Protect and make grow the “infant” industry that produces the technologies that CO2 reduction are dependant on.
Tomorrow´s key energy security issue: Critical minerals and technology manufacturing security mechanism need to be harmonized.
Technologies that can be brought to the user, such as hydrogen, carbon capture and nuclear at the door of the energy-intensive industry is a rational solution
We should not do only strive for Direct Foreign Investments, but share goals, like decarbonize economies.
From my notes to the my takeaways:
Decarbonization & Policy Harmonization: Decarbonization is key for growth. Ambitious goals need harmonized industrial, climate, and trade policies. Investments in climate will pay off.
Energy Market Reform: Overreliance on Russia’s gas, neglecting nuclear, and dropping the ball in solar have been historic mistakes. The energy market should be detached from gas pricing.
Future Energy Strategy: As gas prices drop, it's crucial to use this breathing period to expand electricity and build grids. Focus on clean tech production and harmonizing critical minerals and technology manufacturing security mechanism.
Innovation & Circular Economy: Breaking dependencies through innovation and circularity is essential. In the short term, subsidies are necessary to support clean technologies and foster industry growth.
