In 2022, energy and ecological issues assumed a more prominent place in EU priorities. Member state unity against Russia's invasion of Ukraine entailed tightened unity in relation to energy security and climate action too. At a moment of such existential challenge, the strikingly ambitious upgrades to energy and climate policy commitments in 2022 strengthened a core pillar of the whole European project. Whilst internal differences remained on specific energy and climate-change issues, the war brought European governments together in agreed support for accelerated and more far-reaching ecological transition measures. With stronger consensus on the need to decouple from Russian energy supplies, support for energy transition strengthened notably in 2022.
The article reviews the key developments in EU energy and climate policies in 2022 and notes three emerging and inter-related conceptual shifts in these: the securitization of the green transition, a more realpolitik approach to external climate actions and a rebalancing towards state intervention.
The full text can be found here.
This article was published in the Journal of Common Market Studies; Volume 61, Issue S1 in September 2023. The full text can be found here.
