Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,
We meet again at a pivotal moment. The climate is changing and we are reminded of this fact almost weekly, when another tragedy hits some part of the globe and this reality gives our deliberations a new sense of urgency.
Greece is a pioneer when it comes to the energy transition. Our emissions are down 45% versus 2005. Lignite used to provide much more than 50% of our power generation, its share today is just 6%.
We now rely on wind and solar for almost half of our electricity, we are insulating our houses and building a carbon capture value chain for our industry. Greece is all in on the energy transition.
Yet, to move forward, we must put this transition on a firmer ground. This is the challenge that I see: how can we deliver a transition that our citizens can accept and our companies can afford? How can we avoid a political backlash against this ambitious project?
We see this problem in Europe. Europe is a leader in renewable energy, but we still have higher energy prices than anyone else. We are the only region to impose a heavy tax on emissions. We are almost alone in defending the rules of free trade.
Yet, Europe accounts for a diminishing share of global emissions, only 6% in 2023. We cannot drive ourselves into industrial oblivion. Net zero must be part of a broader European strategy, and not the other way around.
We need a smart green deal and I see four urgent recalibrations to get us there.
First, Europe, and the world, must be more honest about the trade-offs involved in the energy transition. Yes, the energy transition will, in the long run, lower costs. But this transition will not be painless.
We need to ask hard questions about a path that goes very fast at the expense of our competitiveness and a path that goes somewhat slower but allows our industry to adapt and to thrive. It is our responsibility to weigh these trade-offs carefully, not to wish them away.
Second, Europe needs a regulatory reset. We spend way too much on targets that, in truth, get limited scrutiny and enjoy limited legitimacy. We learned this lesson when we tried to bring the transition to our farmers. We cannot micromanage this transition.
Each country must choose its own ambitious path. We must aggressively go after the easier emissions first and allow new technologies to mature. We must be ruthlessly technologically neutral, we must let innovation do its work.
Third, Europe must rededicate itself to the internal energy market. Rhetorically, everyone supports the internal market, but in practice, Europe often stitches together 27 discrete strategies.
We sometimes have a zero-sum mentality within Europe, rather than think about the European and the global interest in a world that is rapidly changing. The easiest way to strengthen the internal energy market and to bring about the green transition and to lower energy prices is to invest in our grids.
The Draghi report was very clear on this: grids are a European public good. There is no internal market without a massive expansion in our ability to transport electricity in Europe.
And finally, we need to do more adaptation. Across Europe, and across the world, our citizens are faced with unprecedented climate shocks.
We need more resources to prepare, to respond in time in order to save lives and livelihoods and to help people and communities rebuild after a disaster. We cannot focus so much on 2050 that we forget 2024.
I am committed as ever to the EU Green Deal. Europe must and will remain a global leader on the transition. But we must be smart and pragmatic, focused on data and science, with increased flexibility, and with a renewed sense of the things that Europe, united, can accomplish.
We cannot waver in our determination to address climate change. But we must do more to ensure that we can and must continue this journey uninterrupted and without leaving anyone behind.
Thank you very much.
