When gas station signs spike overnight and the electric bill starts to sting, it feels like a simple cost of living story. But the European Commission is treating the current price shock tied to the war in the Middle East and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz as something bigger: a climate and security problem rolled into one.
In a communication dated April 22, Brussels argues that the fastest way to protect households and businesses is to burn less imported fuel, then replace it with clean electricity and efficiency.
Draft annexes reportedly flirted with a mandatory one day a week of remote work, but that idea did not make it into the final version, which shows how politically delicate demand cutting can be.
A crisis that looks like an emissions problem
The Commission says 57% of the energy consumed in Europe is imported fossil fuels, and that vulnerability comes with a steep bill.
It estimates the EU imported around €340 billion ($400 billion) worth of fossil fuels in 2025, then spent an additional €24 billion ($28 billion) in the first 52 days after the Middle East crisis began.
EU energy commissioner Dan Jorgensen told Reuters, “We really do need to get rid of our dependency on gas as fast as possible.” You can feel the squeeze at the pump, where the Commission cites average prices of roughly €1.8 to €2.2 per liter for petrol and €2.0 to €2.4 for diesel.
Remote work is back, but it is not an easy sell
According to the Spanish news source El País, early drafts included a recommendation for “one mandatory day of teleworking per week,” then the Commission dropped it from the final package after internal pushback and legal doubts. Would one less commute a week really move the needle, or just spark a new fight over who gets to work from home?
The International Energy Agency has been more direct about the short-term math, listing “work from home where possible” as an immediate demand-side move during supply disruptions.
Its earlier analysis found that one day a week of home working by everyone who can do it could save about 1% of global oil use for road passenger transport and cut global CO2 emissions by roughly 26 million tons a year, though extra household energy use can erase benefits for some workers.
Electrification is where the big numbers live
Europe has already cleaned up a large share of its power supply, with 71% of EU electricity generation coming from clean energy sources in 2024. As Dan Jorgensen put it, “By investing in clean energy and electrification, we unlock more money for our economy.”
The catch is that electricity is still less than a quarter of final energy consumption, so big gains require switching cars, boilers, and industrial heat away from oil and gas.
Heat pumps are a headline example because they hit bills, emissions, and imports at the same time.
The Commission says doubling installed residential and commercial heat pump capacity would cut fossil fuel consumption by 200 TWh, roughly 8% of current space heating energy use in buildings, and it highlights VAT reductions for heat pumps, solar photovoltaics, and small-scale batteries as fast acting tools.
For business, the subtext is industrial strategy as much as climate policy. Brussels points to “social leasing” models for clean tech like EVs and heat pumps and notes industry estimates suggest that more than two-thirds of the heat pumps installed in Europe are produced in Europe, which is meant to keep supply chains closer to home.
Jet fuel puts defense and aviation on the same board
The Commission warns that jet fuel shortages could disrupt the busy summer season and says Europe needs to maximize refinery output, since around 40% of EU jet fuel consumption is imported and about half of those imports pass through the Strait of Hormuz.
It also says coordination is “key for strengthening military fuel infrastructure,” and it plans a Fuel Observatory to map transport fuel supply and stocks, including military fuel stocks where information is available to the Commission.
There is an environmental tension here that is hard to dodge. In the short run, keeping planes flying can mean leaning on refineries and stockpiles, but the IEA argues that reducing air travel where alternatives exist can quickly ease pressure on jet fuel markets.
The tech layer that makes the plan real
If electrification is the destination, grids are the road, and software is the traffic control. The Commission urges smart meter rollout to reach at least 50% of final consumers by 2031 and points to vehicle-to-grid systems and AI-driven automation to help reduce peak demand and price volatility, especially during hot summer months.
It also says the EU has about 55 GW of storage capacity today and needs to expand significantly to reach 200 GW by 2030, alongside a target of at least 15% electricity interconnection by 2030.
A May legal proposal on network charges and taxation aims to make electricity cheaper relative to gas and allow targeted reductions for vulnerable households and energy-intensive industries, but passing tax changes still requires unanimous approval from EU countries.
The official statement was published on European Commission.
