Europe has put the rapid expansion of renewable power at the heart of its race to meet ambitious climate targets and — in the shorter term — to wean itself off Russian energy more quickly, after Moscow launched its assault on Ukraine.
European Union commission president Ursula von der Leyen recently emphasised the need, telling a conference that renewable energy deployment is “not only good for the climate; it is also good for our independence”. She explicitly added that it was imperative to counter Russian president Vladimir Putin’s use of “fossil fuels as a weapon”.
But snarled supply chains and the rising cost of key raw materials are now slowing the deployment of wind and solar power across Europe, just as it is needed most — threatening the continent’s ability to meet its ambitious growth targets for the renewables industry.