- 3 hours ago
Europe needs to be more radical on the energy crisis. But how? EU Climate Commissioner explains
The only way out of energy crises fueled by the wars in Iran and Ukraine is homegrown energy, EU Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra told Euronews. "We owe it to our citizens and our companies."
READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2026/05/07/we-need-to-be-more-radical-in-response-to-energy-crises-eu-climate-commissioner-says
Subscribe to our channel. Euronews is available on Dailymotion in 12 languages
The only way out of energy crises fueled by the wars in Iran and Ukraine is homegrown energy, EU Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra told Euronews. "We owe it to our citizens and our companies."
READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2026/05/07/we-need-to-be-more-radical-in-response-to-energy-crises-eu-climate-commissioner-says
Subscribe to our channel. Euronews is available on Dailymotion in 12 languages
Category
đź—ž
NewsTranscript
00:07Hello and welcome to the Europe Conversation, I'm Stefan Grobe.
00:11My guest today was nominated as Political Talent of the Year by the Parliamentary Press in the
00:17Netherlands in 2013. Living up to that nomination, he spent a decade in the Dutch Senate and House,
00:24served as Finance and Foreign Minister before joining the European Commission.
00:29I'm very excited to welcome the European Commissioner for Climate, Net Zero and Clean Growth,
00:34Wopke Hoekstra. Thank you, Commissioner, for coming on the show today.
00:38Thank you very much for having me.
00:39Let me start with a personal question. You are the father of four children.
00:45Now, to what extent does that inspire you in your fight for more climate protection?
00:50Well, in any case, it means I always have a lot to explain back home, because they ask about my
00:56work,
00:57not only our generation is preoccupied by climate change, but certainly also the kids in school,
01:04and they have turned into quite fanatic recyclers back home.
01:09That is very good. Now, last year marked the 10th anniversary of the landmark Paris Climate Agreement.
01:16What is the agreement's legacy in the EU?
01:19I think it is absolutely huge. It is probably the most important thing we have done as humanity
01:27in setting out the course going forward. So, of course, there is a lot of pushback.
01:33Of course, there is more needed. Of course, the damage that we have in front of us is really dramatic.
01:39And at the same time, Paris is a beacon and has really shaped the behavior of the last 10 years.
01:47And we'll continue to do so going forward.
01:50You mentioned that today's reality is that the climate policy, the EU Green Deal, is under pressure,
01:58under political pressure. How do you feel these headwinds and how do you cope with them?
02:04I mean, I think there are two things at the same time. Indeed, in some cases, there is a bit
02:10of pushback.
02:11At the same time, what people do realize is that the combination of climate, of competitiveness and of independence
02:19truly is hugely important. And we experience that, of course, today with the horrible energy crisis.
02:26We already had a very good climate objective to get rid of fossil fuels and move into renewables
02:32and nuclear and electrification. There was also already a very good reason to do that,
02:36just for financial reasons, because energy in Europe simply is too expensive.
02:41But we now learn the hard way that we are dramatically dependent on the stuff that we have to import.
02:48We are at the mercy of international affairs, and we cannot allow that.
02:53We cannot expose our citizens and our companies to this type of vulnerability, so that we need to change.
02:59You were in Colombia recently for the first ever global talks to accelerate the shift away from fossil fuels.
03:09What did this conference achieve?
03:11So what it brought together was a group of like-minded countries that want to double down on accelerating.
03:20To be quite honest, the process of multilateralism and the COPs is imperfect at best,
03:29and particularly the last COP was also very, very difficult.
03:32So we need to change that system and at the same time be realistic,
03:37because if some people want to spoil it, that is possible, because it is a system that lives by unanimity.
03:43So bringing together a group of countries with more ambition, a coalition of the willing, if you will,
03:50I think is a fruitful way forward.
03:53I think it is testimony to the success that the organizers, Colombia and the Netherlands,
03:58managed to pull that off this quickly.
04:00And it is now up to this group to see what we can do more together going forward.
04:05You were also the EU's chief negotiator at the EU climate conference in Dubai three years ago.
04:14I want you to tell us a little about the atmosphere in the rooms.
04:18Is it emotional?
04:20Are people committed to the same cause?
04:22Or are this just lawyers haggling over every comma in the text?
04:27It is a combination, and there's certainly a lot of emotion.
04:34And I mean, whatever group of people, if you put them in a room and you lock them up for
04:38some 24 hours,
04:40I mean, just because they all become tired, emotions will be visible at some point.
04:47That's the moment when the deals are struck, right?
04:49To some degree, yes.
04:50And of course, there is also always, there is innuendo, there is a bit of theater, there is,
04:57I mean, people typically master the whole playbook of any negotiation,
05:02so you will see that in front of you.
05:04What the essence of Dubai, of course, was,
05:07was that we managed to basically kiss alive a supermajority that was in favor of more action.
05:15And in the end, this was, I think, an unexpected success for diplomacy,
05:21the tripling of renewable energy, the doubling of energy efficiency,
05:26the statement about transitioning away from fossil fuels.
05:29It was a landmark result.
05:32It was one of the best COPs, frankly speaking, since Paris.
05:35So today, Europe is facing another energy crisis fueled by the war in the Gulf, the war in Iran.
05:42Iran, while we're still dealing with the fallout from another energy crisis, of course,
05:48sparked by the war in Ukraine.
05:52Isn't that a great opportunity for an EU climate commissioner to tout renewable energies?
05:58Yes, I know.
05:59And the no is, and that is maybe where I'm a bit cautious.
06:03Look, I mean, if you're fueling up your car back home,
06:05or you're dealing with a higher energy bill,
06:08and then politicians come to you and say,
06:10well, isn't that fantastic, and isn't that a great opportunity,
06:13I think you maybe have a bit of a different emotion.
06:17What is true, and where you are absolutely right,
06:20is that the only way to get out of this nightmare,
06:24the only way to get rid of this dependency,
06:27is to ensure more homegrown energy.
06:30And that means more electrification,
06:33more renewables, more heat pumps,
06:35more interconnectors between our member states,
06:37more nuclear, that whole mix is needed.
06:41Including nuclear.
06:42Including nuclear.
06:43And if you look back at our history,
06:46and you think about the oil crisis of 1973,
06:50the crisis that we saw in 79 after the Iranian revolution,
06:55indeed, 2022.
06:56And now, again, every single time,
06:59we see how vulnerable Europe is,
07:03how little energy we have ourselves.
07:06We are a resource-scarce continent.
07:08So we have a huge objective, again,
07:11for climate, for competitiveness,
07:13but also for independence,
07:14to make more of this stuff ourselves.
07:16That is the way going forward.
07:19I remember that, by the way, in 73,
07:21when my father would know,
07:23everybody was not allowed to drive on the highways on Sundays.
07:27Exactly.
07:28To save energies.
07:29Now, some countries, like France,
07:32are doubling down on the transition
07:33to clean energy in response.
07:38Will this become an EU-wide movement?
07:43Absolutely.
07:43And France is doing a very good job there.
07:46It's exactly linked to your previous question.
07:49Let's make sure we take the opportunity out of this nightmare
07:54and we use this to accelerate what we're already planning to do.
07:59And again, if you think about these previous events,
08:02so 73, 79, and 2022,
08:05every single time our response has been positive
08:09in the sense that we have realized
08:11that we had to become more independent.
08:13At the same time,
08:15I think the lesson is also
08:16that after every previous crisis,
08:19we actually should have been more radical.
08:22We should have been more forward-leaning.
08:25And that is what we need to do now.
08:27The world is full of geopolitical turmoil.
08:31It could well be that this is not the last episode.
08:35And we owe it to our citizens and our companies
08:39that we're not going to confront them with higher prices
08:43during the next crisis.
08:45Whether that is in three years or five years or ten years,
08:47no one knows.
08:48We have to solve this.
08:49On the other hand,
08:51some of the world's greenest countries
08:53that are endowed with fossil fuel resources,
08:56such as the Netherlands and Denmark,
08:59are eyeing more drilling in the short term.
09:03What do you make of this?
09:05I personally think that is...
09:07Do you understand this or...
09:08No, I mean, if you look at where we are today,
09:14my read is it is truly better to double down.
09:18By the way, there are differences between those two countries.
09:20Denmark is further advanced,
09:24also doesn't face the net congestion,
09:27as far as I understand it,
09:29that the Netherlands is facing.
09:30So, of course, there are always specificities
09:33that you need to deal with in a national context.
09:38But overall, there simply is no substitute
09:41than to fast forward.
09:43And again, that is that whole mix of electrification,
09:46of nuclear, of solar,
09:48that we so desperately need.
09:50And by the way, the Danes,
09:51but also the Swedes and the Finns
09:53have done an amazing job in the last couple of years
09:55in doing exactly that.
09:57I think the core question here is,
10:00can Europe secure its own energy?
10:03Is that really possible?
10:05How long does it take?
10:06And what is needed to do this?
10:09We absolutely can.
10:11Of course, we cannot do it in the next few years, right?
10:14Gas will continue to be a transition fuel
10:17for years to come.
10:20Energy demands, also because of what we see
10:22in terms of development of AI,
10:24will go up rather than down,
10:25even with all the energy efficiency measures
10:28that we'll probably have up our sleeves.
10:32But the more independent we become,
10:35the more homegrown we become,
10:37the less vulnerable we become.
10:38So even if you have a bit of a,
10:41let's say, long tail of fossil fuels,
10:45then that in any case is way better
10:47than the current situation,
10:48where we're just heavily dependent
10:51on the oil and the gas that we get from outside.
10:55We truly, and as I said it before,
10:57we are at the mercy of others.
10:59And of course it was smart to get rid of Russian gas.
11:03But we replaced that by,
11:05well, maybe a bit more renewables,
11:07but also by dependency on American LNG,
11:11Qatari LNG, and LNG from others.
11:14Is that a completely safe bet?
11:16Well, I guess we have second thoughts about that, right?
11:20Just look at what is happening across the globe.
11:23And even those who might not get their LNG
11:28going through the Strait of Hormuz
11:29are still very vulnerable
11:32because these are global markets.
11:34Now, the overall political goal in this town
11:38has become improving European competitiveness.
11:43To what extent is this putting you
11:49and your portfolio under pressure?
11:51I mean, we just need to open the news,
11:52but we rarely read about climate issues
11:55because there's so much else going on.
11:57But how do you deal with this?
11:59Do you feel this?
12:01And how do you try to argue against it?
12:04It's really things that go hand in hand
12:06because if you think about competitiveness
12:08and you think about what are the veins
12:13of our industry, it's energy.
12:15And the reality is that our companies,
12:19and particularly, of course, heavy industry
12:21that are very dependent on energy
12:23are being confronted with very high energy prices
12:26compared to the Americans, but also others.
12:31It's a competitive disadvantage.
12:33And that is because we have to import the stuff.
12:35We're paying more.
12:37And then in many cases, European countries
12:40are also taxing more than maybe other nations.
12:44So that is a complicated mix.
12:46And that is exactly the reason
12:48why we need to fast forward this transition.
12:50Where I'm absolutely with those companies
12:54is that that alone, fixing the energy problem alone,
12:58is not going to be enough.
12:58We will need to do much more to embark
13:02on truly a single market for capital,
13:05for people, and so on.
13:07We need to radically simplify
13:09because, frankly speaking,
13:10we have made life too difficult for our companies.
13:13And what about the infrastructure?
13:16Because when you talk about transition, etc.,
13:19infrastructure comes to mind,
13:22and I'm thinking of a charging station for cars.
13:25This is what everybody, every consumer in the EU,
13:29fields.
13:30Now, it's still the case that, I think,
13:32three quarters of all charging stations in the EU
13:35are based in the Netherlands, Germany, and France.
13:38Why does it take so long?
13:40Why are the others just deaf?
13:43Or what's going on?
13:46You're absolutely right.
13:47We have more homework to do,
13:49and that shows that there is also,
13:52clearly, an opportunity,
13:54but also an obligation for member states to do more.
13:58Here's the good news.
13:58And, indeed, the countries you were mentioning,
14:01I would add the Scandinavians to that list
14:03that have the most electrified car park of all.
14:06Well, certainly Norway.
14:08Yeah, which is, let's say,
14:10not yet a member of the European Union.
14:12Let's not tease them too much.
14:13I'm a huge fan of the country,
14:15but they're also, indeed,
14:18they have a truly electrified car park.
14:21What is the good news?
14:23If you look at the type of cars
14:25that now already are being put onto the market
14:27in terms of radius,
14:29in terms of quality of the engine,
14:33in terms of how quickly they can load,
14:37we are in a completely different dimension
14:39than we were some four or five years ago.
14:43And if I listen to experts,
14:44they're telling me,
14:45look, the best car that is,
14:47or the car with the longest radius
14:49that is currently being put on the market
14:51is maybe some 700, 800 kilometers,
14:54at least in testing.
14:56Maybe it's a bit less in reality.
14:58The number will only go up.
15:00Now, what they are telling me,
15:02and again, they are the experts,
15:04they're telling me,
15:04look, 1,000 kilometers,
15:06somewhere in the next five to 10 years,
15:08will clearly come in sight.
15:11If that is the case,
15:12that gives you a completely different picture
15:16in terms of what your loading infrastructure
15:19would need to look like.
15:20Because, of course, you would need more quantity,
15:23but you would not need it
15:25maybe at every corner of the street.
15:28So, I think we are up for a lot of positive surprises
15:32in this specific domain.
15:35Okay, who says infrastructure also says grids.
15:39Where are we here right now?
15:41There's also some sort of, you know, problem.
15:45Are the grids strong enough?
15:47I mean, we have an awesome amount of work out of us.
15:51Let's just be very honest.
15:53We're not nearly there.
15:55We need to invest billions and billions in the grids.
15:59And in my view, that will ask for public money.
16:02But I think we need to be unorthodox.
16:04We also need to allow semi-public or private money.
16:07Think about pension funds and other large investors.
16:12Because the amount of money we'll need is simply so large.
16:15Next to that, we need way more intelligence.
16:19Maybe AI or other tools.
16:21Because we're not making use of the electricity in the smartest possible way.
16:25And that will give you percentage points extra.
16:28All these things are known for a long time, right?
16:31But still, we're not making the progress that we want.
16:36Well, we are.
16:37I think if you look at what we did in the last year, it need also seizing the opportunity with
16:44the package that we came out with two weeks ago.
16:46With the grids package that Juergensen launched in, I believe, December of last year.
16:53With actually each of these measures, we're taking steps.
16:57I think where you are right and where we need to be self-critical, we're not yet meeting the bar.
17:05And much more is needed, right?
17:06So let's be as forward-leaning as we can, because every euro invested in this transition is well spent.
17:16Again, because we are so vulnerable.
17:19As every child knows, climate change ignores borders.
17:25Now, you mentioned Norway earlier.
17:27What are the EU's international partners in the fight against climate change?
17:33It's a range of groups.
17:34And by the way, let me echo what you're saying.
17:36It's one of the complicated things of climate change is that, indeed, it doesn't discriminate.
17:42If you were able to just fix it in your own backyard and then you would be off the hook,
17:47that would make things way easier, right?
17:51But that's simply not the case.
17:53The planet doesn't care where we pump stuff into the air.
17:57If it happens, we all are living in a place that is heated up with one specific problem for Europe.
18:05Europe is heating up more quickly than the others.
18:07So we have a disproportionate incentive to make sure that we don't do just our homework ourselves.
18:13We do it also with others.
18:15That is where the partners come in.
18:17And there are various groups and we try to build bridges all over the world.
18:22But clearly, first, there is the group of, let's say, Norway, Canada, Australia, the UK, with whom we work very
18:30closely together, given that they are so like-minded.
18:33Secondly, we also work together very closely with our friends from Latin America, hence the conference of last week.
18:41And it is not a coincidence that there was a European and a Latin American country that were organizing it.
18:47But also more broadly with the global south, if you think about the small islands, our friends in Africa, our
18:54friends in Asia, the success of the conference in Dubai that you just mentioned,
19:03at the heart of that was that we managed to create this supermajority that crossed the north-south divide.
19:10And that is, I think, the name of the game going forward.
19:13You did not mention our friends in the US and in China.
19:16I guess it's a little more subdued.
19:20Well, I mean, and they're in different categories, right?
19:23So, with the Americans, we worked exceptionally closely together, John Kerry in particular, in Dubai, in Baku, with John Podesta,
19:34his successor.
19:37But the reality is that the Americans have checked out on this topic.
19:41And that is, I mean, it's very unfortunate.
19:44But I have to take the world as it is, not as I would like it to be.
19:49All right. Fascinating conversation.
19:51Wopke Hoogstra, EU Climate Commissioner.
19:53Thank you so much for your time.
19:54Thank you, sir.
Comments