Powering Prosperity: Electrifying Europe’s Growth and Energy Security

Date: 24 June 2025 

Co-hosted by: Energy Revolution Ventures, Systemiq, Prosemino

Venue: IET London: Savoy Place


Panelists: 

• Laura Sandys CBE, Non-Executive Director SSE Transmission, Highview Power, Sero Homes & Ohme 
• Brian Menell, Chairman & CEO of TechMet Ltd, 
• Greg De Temmerman, Deputy CEO & Chief Science Officer at Quadrature Climate Foundation
• Phoebe O’ Hara (moderator), Clean Power Lead, Energy Transitions Commission

Exec Summary:

• Europe’s energy transition is lagging behind due to regulatory fragmentation, high electricity costs, and underinvestment. Electricity makes up only ~25% of final energy demand, and plans to scale this are stalling—especially compared to the U.S. and China’s more aggressive industrial policies.
• Critical raw materials remain a strategic vulnerability, with Europe falling short on securing domestic or diversified access to lithium, cobalt, and nickel—key inputs for batteries and electrification. China’s dominance in processing and the U.S.’s industrial mobilization highlight Europe’s exposure.
• High energy prices are suppressing demand for EVs, heat pumps, and industrial electrification, particularly in the UK where electricity remains gas-linked. The lack of visible cost benefits to consumers is eroding public support and slowing the clean tech rollout.
• Structural reform is essential: the existing energy system, built for centralized fossil generation, is incompatible with a decentralized, renewables-led future. Europe must urgently modernize grid infrastructure, energy markets, and business models to scale clean, distributed energy assets.
• New value chains and investment opportunities are emerging in long-duration storage, grid resilience technologies, and circular mineral supply chains. Electrification offers major efficiency and sovereignty gains—but will require sovereign-level capital mobilisation and clearer, more relatable public messaging.

Summary of the Panel Discussion:

At the Powering Prosperity panel during London Climate Action Week, leaders from across the energy ecosystem came together for a candid conversation about Europe’s progress—and pitfalls—in the global clean energy transition. The sentiment was clear: Europe’s ambition remains strong, but its execution is faltering.

Despite decades of climate leadership, Europe still imports 95% of its fossil fuels, and electricity accounts for only 23–25% of final energy demand. Ambitions to raise that to 70% are stalling due to chronically high electricity prices and a lack of investment in clean infrastructure. Compared to the pace of the U.S.—driven by the IRA—and China’s state-led dominance of supply chains, Europe’s progress feels constrained. One panelist captured it sharply: “The US innovates, China replicates, and Europe regulates.”

A major concern is access to critical raw materials such as lithium, cobalt, and nickel—essential inputs for batteries and electrification technologies. Europe is currently “ill-equipped” to secure these supply chains, and its slow, fragmented response contrasts with the speed and scale of China’s industrial planning and the bold capital mobilisation of the U.S.

Electricity prices, meanwhile, are acting as a major bottleneck. Even as the cost of clean technologies falls, households and industries across Europe—especially in the UK—are not seeing the benefit. High and volatile energy costs are delaying the roll-out of EVs, heat pumps, and electrified industry. These costs are politically toxic and risk undermining support for the energy transition itself.

Another tension is Europe’s role in global LNG markets. In the wake of the Ukraine war, Europe scrambled to outbid emerging economies for scarce gas, displacing countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh and pushing them back to coal. The result is what one panelist called “fossil inflation”: a crisis of Europe’s own making that damages its energy justice credentials.

Throughout the discussion, one message was repeated: the existing energy system is no longer fit for purpose. It was designed to manage centralized fossil fuel plants—not millions of distributed assets like EVs, rooftop solar, batteries, and heat pumps. The grid of the future needs to be radically more dynamic and flexible. If the old system was run by 400 people, the next one will be managed by 100 million.

Europe also needs to rethink how it creates value. Selling raw electricity is a low-margin game. Instead, the continent must start bundling technologies into integrated solutions—combining offshore wind with long-duration storage, for instance, to deliver reliable clean power around the clock. One speaker summed it up memorably: “Don’t be the milk farmer—be the cheesemaker.”

Underlying all of this is a call for sovereign-level investment. The panel urged Europe to treat clean energy with the same urgency and scale as national defense. If the goal is industrial competitiveness, geopolitical independence, and decarbonization, Europe needs real CapEx, faster permitting, and a coordinated plan—now.

Public support is another critical factor. Voters have what one panelist called a “veto on net zero.” They will only back the transition if they see tangible benefits. That means connecting electricity bills to local investments, jobs, and cleaner air. Language matters too: phrases like “net zero” should give way to messaging rooted in prosperity, sovereignty, and resilience.

There is still enormous opportunity. Electrification promises vast efficiency gains: Europe currently wastes around 60% of primary energy, much of it as heat loss. In sectors like paper, electrification can deliver 27% gains. It also insulates the continent from energy shocks by reducing reliance on imported fossil fuels.

Investment themes that emerged from the discussion included long-duration storage, grid-scale batteries, and distributed grid management—technologies that together function like the refrigeration system of the energy world. Just as fridges transformed food systems in the 20th century, these technologies can unlock resilience, flexibility, and efficiency for 21st-century grids. On the materials side, supply chain innovation—particularly around the processing and recycling of lithium and other critical inputs—will be essential for both economic competitiveness and environmental sustainability.

The panel concluded with a clear consensus: incrementalism is no longer enough. To lead the global energy transition, Europe must combine innovation with industrial strategy, regulation with real investment, and ambition with execution. The pathway is still open—but the clock is ticking.