According to a draft report from the bloc’s executive arm, the European Union must invest an additional €700B a year to green the economy and shut out cheap Russian fossil fuels. Most of that figure will have to be privately sourced, the European Commission said, as reported by Bloomberg. The vast sum is significantly higher than that Commission President Ursula von der Leyen suggested less than two years ago, underlining the escalating costs of reaching the EU’s net zero goals.
“The green transition requires unprecedented investments,” the commission said in its Strategic Foresight report, which is still subject to change before publication Wednesday. The EU, targeting a 55% cut in emissions this decade, needs to boost spending on clean technologies amid growing competition from the US and China.
The bloc must also ensure energy security as it weans itself off Russian gas while tackling rising borrowing costs and huge debt built up by companies during the pandemic.