Energy supply Expansion of renewable energies reduces dependency
Europe's greatest weakness is its dependence on imported fossil fuels such as gas and oil. This dependency can be reduced by expanding renewable energies, as a report by the European Science Council shows.
08.04.2025, 12:00
SDA
This dependency makes Europe vulnerable to geopolitical blackmail and economic vulnerability. A well-planned transition to a sustainable domestic energy supply and innovative technologies from Europe would guarantee the continent a secure and prosperous future, the European Academies Science Advisory Council, of which Switzerland is a member, announced on Tuesday.
Autocratic governments that use energy as leverage, military attacks and cyberattacks on energy infrastructure increase both the risk to energy supply in Europe and energy prices, it added.
Every investment in sustainable energy is an investment in security. In contrast, every euro that countries spend on energy imports is a euro that is lost on defense, Finnish professor Paula Kivimaa was quoted as saying in the m Communiqué.
Switzerland has the same problems
Switzerland faces the same challenges, the Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences revealed in a report published in 2024 in "Swiss Academies Reports". In 2021, Switzerland imported 38% of components for solar energy from China and 57% from Europe.
With the strong expansion of such technologies, dependence on the supply of critical minerals and materials such as lithium, cobalt and nickel is also increasing, the report continued. Rising demand could lead to supply bottlenecks and higher costs. The decisive factor for Switzerland is not so much direct access to such materials, but rather the functioning of the trading markets and long-term access to second-life components and materials.
