Apart from governments imposing sanctions on Russia for its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, collective action is required from the people of Europe to cut dependence on Russian oil imports. As Russia earns 40 percent of its revenue from fossil fuel exports, a cut in demand from Europe would squeeze Moscow’s finances and remove the leverage that Russia holds over Europe.

A paper published earlier this month by multiple authors from the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change said cutting the cord will be a daunting task, but reducing oil and gas consumption from Russia could act as a decisive tool to help Europe through the medium-term challenge of weaning away from Russian energy, The Guardian reported.

Europe’s dependence on Russia

Europe’s dependence on Russian energy has prevented it from taking stringent action against Kremlin. Europe imports 40 percent of its gas and 25 percent of its oil from Russia. UK is less dependent on Russian fossil fuels. The country imported less than 4 percent of its total gas supply and 8 percent of oil demand from Russia in 2021, government figures revealed. But Germany and Italy are heavily dependent on Russian natural gas. Germany is so entangled with Kremlin that one of its former chancellors, Gerhard Schröder, is the chairman of Russia’s biggest oil company Rosneft.

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“In Germany, it is a bit problematic that we always focus on one solution and rely on it almost completely,” Financial Times quoted Veronika Grimm, an economics professor at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, said. “Maybe we have now woken up,” Grimm said.

For climate change and Ukraine

Changing energy consumption behaviour will not only impact Russia, but will also help tackle climate change, The Guardian quoted Prof Nick Eyre, director of the Centre for Research into Energy Demand Solutions at Oxford University, as saying.

It is necessary to reduce demand and decarbonise energy systems to mitigate climate change and meet net-zero targets, Eyre said. “This energy security and price crisis is another prompt to do this,” he said.

According to Eyre, the UK government should introduce detailed policies on decarbonising domestic heating, which is responsible for producing 14 percent of UK emissions. UK is likely to announce a new energy supply policy in the coming days.

Behavioural changes required

As part of the collective action to reduce energy demand, individuals can take steps like turning down the thermostat on the boiler by 1 degree Celsius. This simple move could reduce energy demand by 10 percent if everyone in the UK participated.

Individuals can also switch on their heating only when required. The move is estimated to bring down a household’s electricity use by 2.8 percent and gas use by 2 percent, The Guardian reported.

Experts believe replacing fossil-based cars with electric ones could save 2 tonnes of CO2 a year in the UK and help end dependence on fossil fuel.

Governments should encourage the use of renewables.

According to the Centre for Research into Energy Demand Solutions, UK can cut domestic energy demand by introducing a four-day week and encouraging more employed people to work from home.

A simple way to save energy is to limit shower time to four minutes. This could help save 950kWh of energy and 195kg of carbon emissions a year from one household.

One of the best practices to save energy is to turn off the lights while leaving a room. This is estimated to save around 70kWh of energy and 17kg of carbon annually.

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(Edited by : Thomas Abraham)