EU unveils $315 billion plan to ditch Russian fossil fuels

The European Union’s executive arm has unveiled a $315-billion plan for the continent to end its reliance on Russian fossil fuels by 2027, and promote more efficient use of fuels and faster rollout of renewable power.

The European Commission’s investment initiative will guide the 27 EU countries start weaning themselves off Russian oil and gas this year, officials said.

“We are taking our ambition to yet another level to make sure that we become independent from Russian fossil fuels as quickly as possible,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in Brussels when announcing the package, dubbed REPowerEU.

The Ukraine conflict has prompted the European Union to rethink its energy policies with regards to Russia, Europe's top gas supplier, amid concerns of supply shocks. Russia supplies 40 percent of the bloc's gas and 27 percent of its imported oil, and EU countries are struggling to agree sanctions on the latter.

“RePowerEU will help us to save more energy, to accelerate the phasing out of fossil fuels and, most importantly, to kickstart investments on a new scale,” von der Leyen said.

The investments include 86 billion euros for renewable energy and 27 billion for hydrogen infrastructure, 29 billion euros for power grids and 56 billion euros for energy savings and heat pumps.

An EU ban on coal from Russia is due to start in August, and the group has pledged to try to reduce demand for Russian gas by two-thirds by year’s end.

But a proposed EU oil embargo has hit a roadblock from Hungary and other landlocked countries that have raised concerns about the cost of switching to alternative sources.

The REPowerEU package has flagged oil-investment funding of around two billion euros for member nations highly dependent on Russian oil.