This year's European Sustainable Energy Week (ESEW) celebrates its 20th edition. What does this anniversary mean to you personally?
It is a truly symbolic milestone. The event has become Europe's largest annual gathering dedicated to renewable energy and energy efficiency, and it is particularly meaningful for me personally, as the initiative was launched during my mandate as European Commissioner for Energy. What began as an effort to place sustainable energy at the centre of the European agenda has evolved into one of the defining political and economic transformations of our time.
The theme of this year's edition is 'A clean, secure and competitive Energy Union'. How does that motto capture the evolution of EU energy policy over the past 20 years?
That formulation captures well the evolution of European energy policy over the past two decades. When the European Union first started building its modern energy and climate framework, the main drivers were sustainability and internal market integration. Today, energy policy has become inseparable from industrial competitiveness, geopolitical resilience, and economic security.
At this year's fireside chat, 'Powering Change: 20 years of European Clean Energy Transition', together with current and former Energy Commissioners, we will reflect on how Europe's priorities have evolved and what must come next in an increasingly volatile geopolitical environment.
Looking back over those two decades, what do you consider the most significant achievements of the European clean energy transition?
The achievements of the last twenty years are substantial. Europe has successfully demonstrated that economic modernisation and decarbonisation can advance together. Renewable energy has moved from the margins to the centre of the European energy system. In 2024, renewables accounted for approximately 25% of final energy consumption, compared with around 10% two decades ago. In the electricity sector, the transformation has been even more striking. Wind and solar energy have become mainstream technologies, supported by major reductions in costs, improved regulation, and stronger market integration.
The decarbonisation of the power sector represents one of Europe's clearest success stories. Coal generation has declined sharply, emissions from electricity production have fallen significantly, and renewable electricity has become one of the EU's main strategic assets. The current energy transition is no longer simply an environmental project. It is also a strategy for reducing external dependence and improving long-term economic resilience.
The Russian gas crisis marked a turning point for Europe's energy strategy. How did it reshape thinking about clean energy and security?
The Russian gas crisis fundamentally reinforced that lesson. Europe realised with full clarity that dependence on imported fossil fuels creates not only climate risks, but also major geopolitical vulnerabilities. The response through the REPowerEU programme accelerated renewable deployment, energy efficiency measures, and infrastructure investments. The crisis confirmed that clean energy policy is inseparable from energy security policy.
Beyond security, energy efficiency also delivered important progress during this period. Buildings have become more efficient, industrial processes have improved, and total primary energy demand has declined despite economic growth. Electrification and renewable technologies are reducing structural energy losses that were inherent in fossil-fuel systems. This is one of the less visible but strategically important aspects of the transition.
Where does the transition still fall short, and what are the main obstacles remaining?
Yet Europe's energy transformation remains incomplete. Fossil fuels still represent around 69% of both primary energy demand and final energy consumption in the EU. Oil and gas continue to dominate transport, heating, and significant parts of industry. While the power sector has advanced rapidly, other sectors are proving more difficult to decarbonise.
Transport remains heavily dependent on oil, industrial decarbonisation is progressing more slowly than expected, and electricity grids are struggling to keep pace with renewable deployment. Europe has built an impressive legislative framework for climate neutrality, but implementation increasingly becomes the decisive challenge.
You have described electrification as the key strategic driver of Europe's future energy model. What does that mean in practice, and what investment does it require?
To get there, the next phase of the transition requires a shift in focus. The central question is no longer whether renewable technologies work. The technologies are available, competitive, and scalable. The challenge now is how to transform the broader economic system around them.
Electrification is becoming the key strategic driver of Europe's future energy model. Today, electricity represents roughly 23% of final energy consumption in the EU. By 2050, this could rise to nearly 60%. This transformation will fundamentally reshape transport, heating, manufacturing, and industrial production.
Electric vehicles, heat pumps, hydrogen production, data centres, and industrial electrification will dramatically increase electricity demand. EU electricity consumption, which remained broadly stable over the last decade, is expected to rise from approximately 2,750 TWh today to potentially 5,500–7,000 TWh by 2050. Such a transformation requires unprecedented investments in grids, storage systems, flexibility solutions, and digital infrastructure.
The global context has also shifted. How should Europe position itself in what you describe as a global industrial race around clean technology?
The global context has changed profoundly since the early days of European climate policy. Twenty years ago, climate policy was often perceived mainly as a regulatory agenda. Today, the clean energy transition has become a global industrial race. China and other major economies are actively supporting domestic clean technology industries through large-scale industrial policies and public investment programmes. Europe therefore faces a dual challenge: accelerating decarbonisation while preserving industrial competitiveness.
That is precisely why the debate on clean manufacturing has become so important. Europe increasingly understands that energy transition and industrial policy cannot be separated. If Europe wants to maintain competitiveness while accelerating decarbonisation, it must strengthen domestic industrial capacities in clean technologies, grids, batteries, hydrogen systems, and critical raw materials supply chains.
This explains the growing importance of initiatives such as the Clean Industrial Deal, stronger grid planning, simplified permitting procedures, and strategic investment instruments. The energy transition is no longer only about reducing emissions; it is also about maintaining Europe's technological leadership, industrial base, and strategic autonomy.
As Europe accelerates the transition, how do you ensure it remains fair and politically sustainable?
Europe must continue balancing ambition with social and political realities. The transition requires very large investments, estimated at several hundred billion euros annually over the coming decades. Public acceptance, affordability, and fairness therefore remain essential conditions for success.
After 20 years, what is your overall assessment, and what do you see as the defining challenge for the next two decades?
On balance, Europe can legitimately be proud of what has been achieved. The EU has created one of the world's most advanced clean energy policy frameworks and has shown that large-scale decarbonisation is possible within an open market economy. Renewable energy deployment, emissions reductions, and energy efficiency improvements represent genuine structural achievements.
But the next twenty years may prove even more decisive than the previous twenty. The transition is entering a more complex phase, where infrastructure deployment, industrial transformation, and geopolitical resilience become central. Europe's success will increasingly depend not only on targets and legislation, but on speed of implementation.
The direction is clear: less fossil fuel dependence, greater electrification, stronger industrial resilience, and a more integrated Energy Union. The challenge now is ensuring that Europe can deliver this transformation rapidly enough to remain both competitive and secure in a changing world.
Andris Piebalgs is a part-Time Professor at the Florence School of Regulation, Robert Schuman Centre, EUI and serves as the Chairman of the Implementation Committee of the International Methane Emissions Observatory. With a distinguished career in public service, Piebalgs previously held key roles as the European Union Commissioner for Energy and later as the Commissioner for Development. He was instrumental in shaping the EU’s renewable energy and energy efficiency policies, significantly contributing to the establishment of the European energy market. Before his work with the European Union, Piebalgs was a prominent Latvian politician and diplomat. As Latvia’s Ambassador to the EU, he played a pivotal role in facilitating Latvia’s accession to the European Union.