The Return Of The Energy Trilemma

The events in Europe over the past year, culminating in Russia's invasion of Ukraine last February, have put the so-called "energy trilemma" back at the center of public debate: how to guarantee security, sustainability, and competitiveness/affordability of energy at the same time?

This is a key issue for the future of our continent, which, in the short term, faces the difficult, but the unavoidable challenge of ensuring cheap and secure energy for its businesses and people, and diversifying supply sources.

In the medium-long term, the need is to achieve its decarbonization objectives, from those envisaged by Fit for 55 in 2030 (-55% of carbon dioxide emissions compared to 1990) up to net zero carbon dioxide emissions by 2050.

At the same time, it will be necessary to combat the growing phenomenon of energy poverty, which already afflicted around 10% of the population of the European Union before the current crisis and which is now increasingly widespread in the light of the unprecedented rise in gas and electricity prices over the last year.

A theme, that of pricesalso penalizes the competitiveness of European companies, which have found themselves paying for gas even ten times more than their American peers – and…