“We see energy prices breaking record after record, the consequences for households and companies are not sustainable anymore. And what we see is, yes, an energy crisis, but it is mainly a fossil fuel energy crisis. So we need a green solution against this fossil fuel energy crisis,” von der Leyen stated in her speech at the Baltic Sea Energy Security Summit.

(déi Gréng), von der Leyen and the Commission see the ongoing energy crisis as an opportunity to ramp up the switch to renewable alternatives. To get away from its dependency on Russian fossil fuels, the EU should invest massively in green power sources, the president said. “We need clean, cheaper, and we need homegrown power. We need it big and we need it fast,” von der Leyen added.

Luxembourg and the rest of the EU have seen the prices of gas and energy skyrocket as a result of the Russian war on Ukraine and Russia’s response to EU sanctions. On 30 August, Turmes (déi Gréng) had announced that locally, prices were going to increase significantly for the time being,

Set in 2018 at 32%, the green energy target to reach by 2030 has increased to 45%. In 2020--the most recent data published by the Commission--the EU on average sourced 22.1% of its consumption from renewable sources. The grand duchy was at 11.7% for 2020.

This change in targets is part of a series of measures included in the EU’s RePowerEU package. On 9 August, an EU gas demand reduction plan, asking EU member states to reduce their energy demand by 15% until the end of March 2023 to make the most of gas stocks, came into force. Von der Leyen on 30 August shared the news that the 80% stock filling target set for 2022 was reached by the EU average.

European energy ministers are also set to meet on 9 September to discuss a reform of the structure of the EU’s current electricity market.