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The new European energy map also passes through the agricultural sector

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The new European energy map also passes through the agricultural sector

The European energy system developed during the Second World War also and above all on the basis of a profound interdependence with Russia. This is a fact based on a simple equation: the presence of a large economy – but poor in energy resources – on the one hand, and a country rich in low-cost energy resources on the other.

This link, which has developed over the decades also through the construction of large infrastructural works such as gas and oil pipelines that still today connect the large Russian fields with European markets, has seen Russia become the main supplier of hydrocarbons for Europe, covering the 40% of the European demand for natural gas and 25% of the European demand for oil. At the same time, this link has seen Europe become the main market for Russian hydrocarbon exports: half of Russian oil exports and three quarters of Russian gas exports have traditionally been destined for Europe.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine resulted in the breaking of this historical link. A structural break, which in recent months is leading to an unprecedented redesign of the European energy map.

Between February 24 and today, European countries have gradually introduced increasingly incisive measures on this front. The first step was the introduction of a Russian coal embargo starting next August. The second step, much more difficult considering the importance of this commodity for the economy, was the introduction of a partial embargo on Russian oil. A measure that came after long weeks of negotiation, which will see European imports from the country cut by 90 percent by the end of 2022. The third step, by far the most difficult considering the difficulty in finding alternatives in the short term, concerns gas. natural. On this front, Europe has not – to date – considered the hypothesis of an embargo, but has rather turned its efforts to the implementation of a strategy aimed at a rapid and well-planned reduction of its imports: REPowerEU.

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This strategy, presented by the European Commission on 18 May and supported by the heads of state and government of European countries meeting in the European Council on 30-31 May, aims to gradually eliminate Europe’s dependence on Russian natural gas across a wide range of options, grouped into four main areas: efficiency and energy saving; diversification of energy supply; acceleration of the green transition; investments and reforms.

Among the various options contained in the REPowerEU strategy, the theme of bioenergy stands out, i.e. that family of renewable energies that contains biomasses (such as firewood residues, waste from the processing of the agri-food industry, urban organic waste, green branches of forestry and agricultural activities), bioliquids (such as crude or refined vegetable oils that can be used as an alternative to traditional fuels) and biogas / biomethane (obtainable from livestock waste and agricultural, forestry and agro-industrial waste).

This attention should not come as a surprise, because bioenergy already accounts for 60 percent of renewable energies in Europe today. It is therefore expected, with good reason, that by attributing even more importance to bioenergy, an even more important sustainable energy production can be guaranteed in the near future.

In particular, the strategy underlines how the increase in sustainable biomethane production in Europe can make a contribution of 35 billion cubic meters of gas by 2030. A volume, just to give an example, three times higher than the current capacity. of the TAP pipeline. In order to achieve this important level of production, the European Commission estimates the investment needs between now and 2030 at € 37 billion. In order to mobilize these resources, REPowerEU proposes a series of measures ranging from the establishment of an industrial partnership for biogas and biomethane aimed at giving new impetus to the European value chain of renewable gases, the adoption of incentives to switch from biogas to biomethane; from the construction of new infrastructures to be able to transport more biomethane through the EU gas network, to the stimulation of research, development and innovation in the sector.

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Finally, REPowerEU underlines the need for the various European countries to strengthen – also through new incentives – the use of the so-called agrivoltaic. In the agricultural sector we find large availability of surfaces: land above all, but also roofs of warehouses, sheds, granaries, which can also be used for the installation of solar panels. The potential to combine agricultural land use with solar generation is very important in Europe. High population density and scarcity of available land represent, in fact, one of the main obstacles to the future development of solar energy on the continent. Here, then, that agrivoltaic can become the key to avoiding competition on land use, but also to create important synergies, considering how photovoltaic systems can contribute to the protection of crops and the stabilization of the agricultural yield itself.

In the current moment of historical transformation of its energy system, Europe must resort to all possible solutions aimed at guaranteeing the three classic objectives of energy policy: security of supply, competitiveness and sustainability. The agricultural sector can make an important contribution in the effort to keep this triangle of energy policy in balance even during a deep geopolitical crisis like the present one. Good public policies are needed today to push these solutions and ensure the emergence of new initiatives in the sector. If so, Europe will be able to emerge from the current crisis not only in a more resilient way from an energy perspective, but also through the creation of new industrial sectors, with the relative benefits in terms of economic growth and job creation.

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*(Researcher at the Faculty of Political and Social Sciences of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Milan campus)

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