“We propose bans on all business flights, private jets and internal flights within Europe to save oil, and bans also on car use within cities. This should be combined with free public transport,” the report reads, noting that a quarter of European oil use would need to be slashed to compensate for the loss of Russian oil.
In 2021 alone, roughly 45 percent of the EU’s natural gas imports came from Russia, which also accounted for about 40 percent of the EU’s total gas consumption.
In comments at the European Parliament on April 6, EU Council President Charles Michel said, “I think that measures on oil and even gas will also be needed sooner or later.”
“We will need dramatic measures to reduce demand, implemented via some form of energy rationing to ensure the burden is shared fairly and does not disproportionately hurt poorer households and countries,” the report reads, later stating that the absence of a rationing system could allow prices to shoot upward and “undermine the consensus needed to underpin the war effort.”
“We may need a state of emergency declared, and an explicit political recognition that European economies are now on a war footing in terms of the rapidity of the energy transition,” the report reads, stating that “in some ways the speed of the change will resemble the Covid lockdowns, but with a different trajectory in the longer term.”
In a later section on medium- to long-term outcomes, the report states that “a war economy approach will need to be maintained” to bring in more solar and wind power, electrify heating and transport, and bolster or restart nuclear power.
“If we set it at 2150, as Saudi Arabia would no doubt immediately volunteer, we will be well on our way to turning Earth into Venus by then. I propose 2047,” Lynas wrote at the time.
While the RePlanet analysis states that “this is not a leap in the dark” and that “the numbers add up,” a disclaimer at the end of the report states that “the numbers in the plan are meant to be taken as indicative ballpark potentials of various actions, not exact values or even as likely outcomes.”
In addition, after proposing bans on internal European flights and urban car use, the report notes that “the impacts of this are not easily quantified.”
“We believe this could double the reduction in oil use beyond that proposed by the IEA in its handbook ‘Saving Oil in a Hurry,’” the report reads.
Lynas didn’t respond to a request for comment.