Green transition: create an European energy agency

A group of energy and climate economists have proposed that a European energy agency be set up to guide the continent’s transition to net-zero carbon by 2050. EneregyEcoLab supports this initiative, which has been signed by Simone Tagliapietra, Georg Zachmann, Anna Creti, Ottmar Edenhofer, Natalia Fabra, Jean-Michel Glachant, Pedro Linares, Andreas Löschel, Joanna Maćkowiak-Pandera, and László Szabó.

The text of the proposal has been published as a correspondence piece in Nature.

Green transition: create a European energy agency

As energy and climate economists, we propose that a European energy agency be set up to inform and guide the continent’s transition to net-zero carbon by 2050. Because the energy transition will affect so many operations and interests, an independent public agency is needed to take responsibility for what information should be collected and how it is processed and presented. Stakeholders should be able to suggest improvements to help the agency to steer public planning and private investment. This agency would impartially address questions that are key to formulating energy policy to achieve the transition. Examples include how much industry pays for electricity, the rate at which wind and solar energy are taking over, and which transmission lines are the most congested. The answers are currently unclear, and confused by difficulties in accessing some public statistics and by the fact that updated data are available only commercially. Such a European energy agency could mirror the European Environment Agency and its mandate to deliver knowledge and data to support Europe’s environmental and climate goals. Alternatively, the task could be undertaken by a dedicated branch of the European Union’s statistical office, Eurostat.

A longer version has been published here.