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On 24-25 March , to anticipate this , EU leaders agreed on the European Commission ’ s plan to wean off Europe from Russian fossil fuels before 2030 at the European Council . Supported by 85 % of Europeans that believe that the EU should reduce its dependency on Russian gas and oil as soon as possible , the plan , called REPowerEU Plan responded with several measures .
The Commission proposed to achieve the goals through energy savings , diversification of energy supplies in collaboration with international partners , and accelerated roll-out of renewable energy to replace fossil fuels in homes , industry and power generation .
“ We need to make our energy systems more resilient ”
JOE KAESER CHAIRMAN OF THE SUPERVISORY BOARD , SIEMENS ENERGY
At the same time , the Commission would seek to reduce fossil fuel consumption in industry and transport as well as to secure additional investment of € 210 billion between now and 2027 to achieve energy independence , which will save almost € 100 billion per year when compared to the spending the region has been sending to Russia .
The energy rush Russia was the world ’ s largest oil and natural gas exporter in 2021 . Countries are in a rush to find alternatives to Russian oil and gas in the near term as the country is facing sanctions by the west due to its invasion of Ukraine . Some are readily abandoning last year ’ s advice from International Energy Agency ( IEA ) to develop no new gas , oil or coal projects in order to limit global heating to 1.5C - which most leaders of the world agreed to during the UN Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow in November .
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