For the third time in four years, Europe is waking up to discover that it has sleepwalked into yet another energy crisis.” When Russia illegally invaded Ukraine in February of 2022, Europe was caught in an extremely compromised position, as it was dependent on Russian producers for 40 percent of its natural gas. When energy sanctions were slapped on the Kremlin, the impact on European energy markets was dire, with many families plunging into energy poverty.
In the years since that crisis, European leaders have made efforts to diversify their energy supplies and become more energy independent – but clearly it was not enough. Europe has experienced two crises since that invasion, both involving the closure of critical shipping lanes – first from conflict choking passage of the Red Sea in 2023 and 2024, and now thanks to the extended effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz. This newest crisis throws into sharp relief how dependent Europe remains on fossil fuels, and particularly on fossil fuel imports, rendering the continent highly vulnerable to such disruptions of trade routes.
“We swore we’d learn. We promised things would change but here we are,” a ‘highly frustrated European diplomat’ was recently (anonymously) quoted by the BBC.
“Instead of concentrating on much-needed long-term plans – about how to make Europe more competitive in this increasingly volatile world, [European] prime ministers and presidents are now in a panic over [energy] prices, worried about angry voters and scrambling for short-term solutions,” the source continued. “Just like the crisis after Russia’s fullscale invasion of Ukraine. Different conflict. Same European divisions; same dilemmas over energy. We can’t keep going round in these circles. Something’s got to give.”
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While it may feel like groundhog day in Brussels, it’s also true that Europe has made great strides in building up homeshored clean energy assets. Many experts contend that they simply haven’t gone far enough, arguing that Europe’s only hope to emerge from its energy-crisis death spiral is to continue to invest in home-grown solar, wind, and nuclear energy.
“Wind and solar cannot be embargoed, blockaded, or shut off by a foreign power,” David Frykman, General Partner at Stockholm-based venture capital group Norrsken, recently wrote in an op-ed for Fortune. “Every terawatt-hour of domestic renewable generation is a terawatt-hour that no adversary can weaponize.”
The good news is that wind and solar are already a strong presence in European markets. In 2025, renewable energies overtook fossil fuels in the European energy mix for the first time in history. Even better, continuing to build them up is not just economically viable, it’s the cheapest option. But European leaders also have some well-founded anxieties about a totally renewable-powered grid. As solar and wind have gone gangbusters across the bloc, there have been some hiccups as markets contend with variable production patterns, volatile pricing, and even country-wide blackouts.
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This is where nuclear comes in. It is becoming increasingly clear that in order to insulate European energy markets from global energy shocks as well as internal volatility stemming from variability in electricity production and consumption, nuclear energy will have to provide a critical backstop. It’s carbon-free, produces energy around the clock, and its technology is rapidly advancing. European leaders are quickly pivoting toward next-gen nuclear energy technologies, including small modular reactors and the research and development of nuclear fusion, showing a complete turnaround from a previous phasing-out of nuclear power across the majority of the European Union.
There is a light at the end of the tunnel for Europe. Leaders just have to stay the course in terms of renewable and nuclear deployment. The era of stable global energy supply chains is quickly coming to close as global geopolitics transition away from an ethos of free trade to one of protectionism, nationalism, near-shoring and friend-shoring.
And Europe is actually one of the luckiest regions when it comes to energy crises. The developing world will be much harder-hit by the skyrocketing oil prices and conflicted trade routes. With much lower adaptive capacity and resilience, the global south will – as usual – be the biggest loser in this zero-sum game.
By Haley Zaremba for Oilprice.com
