The current energy crisis is hitting Europe very hard. A war always has economic consequences but European energy policy has ignored important geopolitical risks. For example, after Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014, some EU member states nevertheless increased their dependence on Russian natural gas. Meanwhile, energy markets were further liberalized and integrated so that any exogenous shock could have very significant implications for all European countries, including those that do not themselves purchase gas from Russia.

In the short term, Europe is fully committed to drastically reducing gas consumption. In the longer term, Europe wants to become climate-neutral, using hardly any fossil fuels at all. A drastic acceleration of climate policy is therefore the answer to the gas crisis. However, the current European climate policy does not appear to be very performant. Between 2014 and 2018, energy-related CO2 emissions in Europe fell by only 1.1%, and in 2019 Europe announced with the Green Deal that it wants to reduce emissions by 95% by 2050. And this radical goal must be met by tightening climate policies that have so far failed to break the trend. 

How can we explain this paradox and are there alternatives that do contribute to climate solutions?