Watson Institute Climate Solution Lab: Letting Europe's Energy Crisis Go To Waste

Letting Europe’s Energy Crisis Go to Waste: The Ukraine War’s Massive Fossil Fuel Costs Fail to Accelerate Renewables A new report co-authored by Professor Jeff Colgan, Dr. Alexander Gard-Murray, and Miriam Hinthorn from the Climate Solutions Lab (CSL), builds on CSL’s recent peer-reviewed research that estimated the cost in euros of the energy crisis. CSL estimates that Europe spent an extra €517 - 831 billion in excess market costs due to higher prices in the period October 1, 2021, to December 31, 2022, with a best estimate of €643 billion, counting only the fuel costs beyond the expected regular fuel costs in the absence of a war. In addition, European governments committed to a further €908 billion of fiscal spending on energy-related infrastructure and policies. These two categories of costs are not fully commensurable, but the total costs are over €1 trillion. The report was co-authored by Professor Jeff Colgan, Dr. Alexander Gard-Murray, and Miriam Hinthorn from the Climate Solutions Lab (CSL).