The EU budget ensures European energy independence through REPowerEU

The role of the EU budget

REPowerEU shows how the EU budget and NextGenerationEU can be used flexibly to divert funds to where they are needed most.

Member States can use the remaining Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) loans (currently €225 billion) and new RRF grants funded by the auctioning of Emission Trading System allowances, currently held in the Market Stability Reserve, worth €20 billion.

More details – results achieved

• Ending the EU’s dependency on Russian fossil fuels: Between 2021 and 2022, the share of EU’s energy supplies from Russia has dropped from 44% to 23% - with further decreases expected.

• Securing energy storage and tackling high energy costs:  
  • Member States agreed to reduce their gas demand by 15 % between 1 August 2022 and 31 March 2023, compared to their average consumption in the previous 5 years, through their own choice of measures.
  • The EU adopted new legislation in record time in June, requiring the EU’s underground gas storage to be filled to at least 80 % of capacity by 1 November 2022 – and to 90 % at the same date in future years – to ensure supply for the coming winter. Thanks to a concerted effort by Member States, storage rates surpassed this to reach 95.5 % in November 2022.
  • The EU also established an EU Energy Purchase Platform to facilitate the voluntary joint purchase of gas, LNG and hydrogen by Member States.
• Accelerating the production of green energy: In 2022, as part of the REPowerEU package, the Commission proposed to increase the EU’s 2030 target for renewables to 45 % of total energy consumption, compared to the target of 40 % envisaged under the Fit for 55 proposals. A provisional agreement was reached on 30 March 2023 for a binding target of at least 42.5% and aiming for 45%.
  • The newly adopted EU Solar Energy Strategy will boost the roll-out of photovoltaic energy, bringing over 320 gigawatts of additional solar photovoltaic capacity online by 2025 (over twice today’s level), and almost 600 gigawatts by 2030. These additional solar panels could replace 9 billion cubic metres of natural gas annually by 2027.
  • A Biomethane Industrial Partnership was launched, which will promote collaboration between the Commission, EU Member States, industry representatives, feedstock producers, academia and non-governmental organisations to increase biomethane production to 35 billion cubic metres by 2030.