The EU’s reluctance to replace petrol cars and gas boilers keep it hooked on foreign fuels, say industry groups
Europe has made “staggering progress” in producing clean power but neglected efforts to phase out fuel-burning machines, the head of an industry group said as the global oil crisis deepens.
Adrian Hiel, director of the Electrification Alliance, said the EU has “radically transformed” its power supply and must now focus on getting “more electricity into the stuff we use every day”.
The sluggish pace of electrification has left households exposed to higher bills as the Iran war has sent oil and gas prices soaring just four years after the last energy crisis. On Friday, the International Energy Agency said a faster shift to electric cars and heat pumps would complement its drastic fuel-saving action plan to quell the price shock.
“Act one was cleaning up our power supply,” said Hiel. “Act two is getting that clean European electricity into buildings, industry and transport. It’s a completely different challenge that we haven’t really faced off with yet.”
