Rising geoeconomic tensions. Von der Leyen: “2024 a decisive year for the EU”

Brussels – Increased geoeconomic tensions and more frequent disruptions in supply chains, increased volatility in energy markets: Two thousand and twenty-four “will be a decisive year” for the security of the European Union, caught between rising geopolitical tensions, from the Red Sea to the Taiwan Strait. She spoke of a “new normal” with which Brussels is being forced to deal and “international competition that is getting tougher and tougher.” To which is “added an accumulation of extreme weather events, a consequence of global warming; we Europeans will have to work together as never before. We must and can better prepare for this new world,” she spells out.

According to the German leader, the tools to be leveraged to strengthen the EU’s competitiveness in a world of increasing crises are energy transition and artificial intelligence. “We need to further reduce energy prices, and to that end, we need to make the right investment decisions today,” she sounded off, speaking about the role of super grids. “Secure, far-reaching networks that span our continent. Managed with the help of artificial intelligence to direct low-cost energy to where it is most needed. This is how we will create the energy backbone of the economy of the future,” according to the president.

Clean technologies are driving growth worldwide.

This benefits the climate, but it also creates jobs and opportunities – right across Europe.#Hamburg2040 I am delighted to see that many Hamburg companies are at the forefront of this ↓ https://t.co/efqAtCcOJc

– Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) January 26, 2024

The forum attended by von der Leyen was held in Hamburg, which will be one of the first ports in the world to import hydrogen on a large scale. “There are steel, copper, and aluminium producers in this area who want to produce in an environmentally friendly way, but require huge amounts of energy to do so. The proximity to the new terminal will give them a decisive competitive advantage,” she said, referring to the start of construction of a hydrogen terminal in the port of Hamburg that will soon turn ammonia into renewable hydrogen, “thus making an important contribution to the decarbonization of one of Germany’s largest contiguous industrial areas,” the German leader explained.

Ten million tons of “Made in Europe” hydrogen and another ten million tons of imported hydrogen starting in 2030: “This is an ambitious but feasible goal,” according to von der Leyen, referring to the target set long ago under the REPowerEu plan for energy independence from Russia launched in May 2022. Brussels launched in late November the first 800 million auction for the production of green hydrogen (the “clean” kind produced by electrolysis from renewable sources) in Europe, funded through the European Innovation Fund (i.e., through revenues from the European carbon market, the EU’s ETS system). The call will close on Feb. 8, but the European Commission plans to launch a second one as early as spring. Just as by the end of the year, the Commission aims to launch a call for clean hydrogen imported from third countries. In 2022, hydrogen accounted for less than 2 per cent of European energy consumption and was mainly used to produce chemicals, such as plastics and fertilizers. Not only is production low, but Brussels must also wrestle with the fact that about 96 per cent of this hydrogen was produced from natural gas, resulting in significant amounts of CO2 emissions.