The EU must rethink its energy security in light of increasingly renewable, decentralized, and electrified energy systems. Energy security already benefiting from the early start of the energy transition. In the transition phase now beginning, a forward-looking and adaptable approach is needed to maximize synergies and manage potential conflicts between decarbonization and energy security.

An energy system based on domestic renewable energy and broad electrification is fundamentally more resilient than one dependent on fossil fuel imports – for which the EU spent over €1.3 trillion between 2022 and 2024. Renewables, built on installed infrastructure rather than continuous fuel imports, enhance long-term security, reduce exposure to volatile prices, and lower emissions.

As the energy transition advances, questions of grid stability, cybersecurity, and industrial resilience – including supply chains for critical minerals and raw materials – move to the center of energy security. Unlike fossil fuel supply security, these objectives can largely be achieved through internal measures within the EU and its Member States. To achieve this effectively and cost-efficiently, the EU needs coordinated infrastructure planning, targeted use of green molecules where they are most urgently required, a stronger circular economy, and a massive expansion of domestic renewable energy and storage capacities.

A coherent strategy that integrates these elements can reduce costs, strengthen resilience, advance decarbonization, and provide a roadmap for open strategic autonomy. This policy brief is a joint publication by Ecologic Institute and Agora Energiewende.