European Commission chief calls for reducing dependency on Russian fuel amid Ukraine conflict

“This is why the European Commission will present next month a new solar strategy of the European Union, as part of REPowerEU,’’ she said.

The need for clean energy has never been more pressing.

Our planet is heating up, while energy demand is on the rise.

And we have to switch to secure, reliable energy supplies.

This is why initiatives like @isolaralliance are so important.
https://t.co/yBfzsTuBlz

— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) April 24, 2022

Pointing out that “India and the European Union are on the same paths”, the EU chief said that Prime Minister Modi has already announced that India should be energy independent before it celebrates 100 years of its independence as a country. “This would be in 2047. So it is in our common interest that this independence of fossil fuel that comes from abroad is a transformation into renewable and clean energy,” she said.

Von der Leyen added that India and the European Union are closely aligned in the fight against climate change and have understood the importance of solar energy.

“Both India and the European Union have embarked on their way to net-zero. Europe wants to be climate neutral by 2050 and India by 2070. But in addition, India has committed to covering half of its energy demand from renewable sources already by 2030. This is amazingly good news. This is very ambitious,” she said adding that Europe has set similar goals.

Pointing out the increase of heatwaves and extreme weather events in India, as well as in Europe with droughts last summer and wildfires, flooding and hurricanes, Von der Leyen said that it was imperative to act decisively and immediately.

“The IPCC has just said that to prevent the worst effects of climate change, global emissions of CO2 would have to peak within the next three years. At the same time, our demand for energy is drastically
rising… In India, energy use doubled in the last two decades, and it will continue to grow… (this) shows the urgency for our transformation to clean and sustainable ways of doing business and using that energy. Because we all know that this additional energy that you will need has to be clean, has to be green… But it needs an enormous amount of determination on the political part, of investment on the public and the private side,” she said.

Von der Leyen has also discussed the need for India and Europe to cooperate on securing global supply chains – “This is a big topic since the pandemic, when we learnt what it means when all of a sudden global supply chains, because of the pandemic, were interrupted, with all the consequences – and the material, of course, needed for solar panels. How to identify the best areas to place those panels: fields, lands or rooftops, etcetera. Together, we can indeed increase the economies of scale and scope,” she said.