Belgium, (Brussels Morning Newspaper) EC President Ursula von der Leyen and US President Joe Biden have stated their commitment to Europe’s energy security and sustainability in a joint call underscoring the need to accelerate “the global transition to clean energy”.
In a joint statement, the two leaders also say they “share the objective of ensuring the energy security of Ukraine and the progressive integration of Ukraine with the EU gas and electricity markets.”
They point out that the EU and the US cooperate on energy security and the transition away from fossil fuels, and that they are resolved to speed up and control the move towards renewable sources of energy.
The EC’s announced plans to improve security of natural gas supply in line with the bloc’s long-term climate goals include reaching carbon neutrality by 2050.
“While that process intensifies during this critical decade, we are committed to working closely together to overcome today’s challenges of security of supply and high prices in energy markets”, von der Leyen and Biden make clear.
Both the EC and the US are determined to strengthen cooperation “for security of supply and will work together to make available reliable, and affordable energy supplies to citizens and businesses in the EU and its neighbourhood”, they declare.
The two “are working jointly towards continued, sufficient, and timely supply of natural gas to the EU from diverse sources across the globe to avoid supply shocks, including those that could result from a further Russian invasion of Ukraine.”
Noting that the US is the largest EU supplier of liquefied natural gas (LNG), the leaders say they are collaborating with operators and governments on supply of additional LNG volumes to the bloc.
“LNG in the short-term can enhance security of supply while we continue to enable the transition to net zero emissions”, their joint statement says, while undertaking that “the EC will work for improved transparency and utilisation of LNG terminals in the EU.”
Von der Leyen and Biden plan to continue to work towards stabilising global energy markets at the US-EU Energy Council meeting in February.
