Internal risks may affect energy transition, says ex-EC president

  • Lusa
  • 10 May 2022

For Durão Barroso, former European Commission President, there is "a risk of a backlash and of the climate agenda being collateral damage from the war.

Former European Commission President Barroso said on Tuesday that domestic risks posed by inflation and subsequent cost of living increases could affect the “political commitment” to the energy transition in Europe.

According to the current chairman of Goldman Sachs International, who spoke at a virtual conference on the conflict in Ukraine and the energy transition, “everyone agrees” that “more needs to be done to reduce energy dependence on Russia”.

Still, he warned, “some countries have more difficulties because they are more dependent than others [on Russia], but there is a commitment”, just that “at the same time with inflation and cost of living the pressing issues that put pressure on governments are huge. And there is a risk of not having enough political commitment translated into investment in European countries,” he stressed.

According to the former Portuguese prime minister, “in the long term, there is an agenda that is going in the right direction”, and “from an investment point of view, there will be enough opportunities, and that will happen”, he assured, warning that “to manage this transition one cannot exclude phenomena” such as the fact that “some countries are postponing the phasing out of coal”.

“It is important to have enlightened leadership to understand that we should not continue in a position where we have been for so long in terms of energy dependency,” he stressed.

For Barroso, there is “a risk of a backlash and of the climate agenda being collateral damage from the war. But this depends on leadership”, he concluded.