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AIPROPX ReportFortune · 2h ago
Europe has an electrification target. Here’s how it can become a competitive advantage
The European Commission has set Europe’s first ever electrification target, setting an ambition to increase electricity consumption to 46% of all energy use by 2040—double the current consumption rate.
The Electrification Action Plan, unveiled by European Commissioner for energy and housing Dan Jørgensen on July 17, seeks to improve European energy security, reduce reliance on imported oil and gas, and lower energy costs for households and industry.
For decades, Europe has imported more than half of the energy that powers its economy. That dependence has left businesses exposed to geopolitical shocks, volatile prices, and supply disruptions. Each year, Europe spends hundreds of billions of euros importing fossil fuels. The Commission estimates that greater electrification could reduce those imports by as much as €260 billion annually by 2040. Imagine what that could mean for Europe’s economy.
Instead of exporting wealth to buy fuel, Europe has the opportunity to invest those resources in its own infrastructure, industries, technologies, and workforce. Electrification is not simply about reducing emissions, it also represents an opportunity for Europe to improve its economic resilience and long-term competitiveness.
Electricity is the foundation of almost every growth opportunity. Artificial intelligence, data centers, heating and cooling of buildings, advanced manufacturing, electrified transport, and hydrogen production all depend on an abundant, reliable, and affordable electricity supply.
The European Commission has set an ambitious direction. Now Europe must match that ambition with execution. Businesses cannot wait for perfect conditions before investing, and policymakers cannot expect private capital to flow at the pace required without providing greater certainty.
Europe needs a shared commitment to accelerate grid investment, modernize regulation, and dramatically reduce permitting timelines for strategically important infrastructure. Every year lost to delay is another year of constrained growth, postponed industrial investment, and missed economic opportunity that severely impacts current and future competitiveness.
Grid planning needs to anticipate future demand from AI, advanced manufacturing, and electrified transport, rather than simply responding to it. Regulatory frameworks should reward long-term investment, while EU member states should work together to accelerate interconnected projects.
Greater interconnectedness improves resilience, lowers costs, reduces curtailment of renewable energy, and strengthens energy security for Europe as a whole.
Much of the technology needed to achieve the EU Commission’s electrification target already exists. What often slows progress is not engineering, but process.
Across Europe, strategically important grid projects can spend years navigating permitting procedures and regulatory approvals before construction even begins. Yet electricity demand is accelerating, driven by digitalization, electrified transport, industrial transformation, and the rapid expansion of AI.
Europe cannot afford for twenty-first-century infrastructure to be built with twentieth-century timelines. Reducing permitting times should therefore become one of Europe’s highest economic priorities. Every unnecessary year spent waiting for approvals delays investment, slows industrial growth and postpones the benefits of lower-cost, cleaner electricity.
Collaboration will also be crucial. Governments, regulators technology providers, investors, and major electricity users should be involved in planning the energy system and cross-border projects should be identified and prioritized collectively. When planning is coordinated, investment becomes more efficient, projects move faster and innovation scales more quickly.
Wind generation in the North Sea, hydropower in Scandinavia, solar energy in southern Europe and flexible demand across the continent should increasingly operate as one integrated European system, rather than a collection of national systems.
The countries that build the most connected, resilient, and intelligent electricity systems will attract the industries, technologies and investment that define the next generation of economic growth. Europe now has the opportunity to make electrification one of its greatest competitive advantages.
The encouraging news is that Europe already possesses many of the ingredients needed to lead. It has world-leading engineering expertise, globally competitive industries, abundant renewable resources, and some of the world’s most innovative companies.
The European Commission has provided the strategic direction. The next challenge is execution.
The opinions expressed in Fortune.com commentary pieces are solely the views of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of Fortune .
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