When Crises Collide: Energy, Security, Climate Change
Geopolitical instability underpins the short-term energy-saving measures adopted in Europe in preparation for winter. Climate change’s impact on energy insecurity highlights an urgent need to simultaneously integrate longer-term climate mitigation measures, argue Christine Eriksen and Andrin Hauri in this CSS Policy Perspective.
Key Points
- Climate change will have a more lasting and far-reaching impact on Europe’s energy security than the war in Ukraine. Its ultimate impact increases significantly for every year without action.
- Some of the politically and economically driven measures taken to secure Europe’s energy supply in the short term have the potential to jeopardize the transition to a resilient and environmentally sustainable energy future.
- The ripple effect of the war in Ukraine shows that the drastic measures, economic investments, and everyday inconveniences required to implement climate mitigation measures are not only possible but also socially acceptable if the threat is perceived to be immediate.