UK seeks closer EU cooperation on energy security, net-zero

UK Climate Minister Kerry McCarthy has pledged to rebuild cooperation with Europe on energy and climate change after meeting EU Commissioner Kadri Simson in Norway.

Attending the Offshore North Seas Conference in Stavanger, Norway, this week, McCarthy used her first trip abroad to meet investors in wind power, hydrogen and carbon capture technologies – all of which the new UK government is betting on to meet its goal of decarbonising the electricity system by 2030.

The goal, according to a statement from her department, responsible for energy security and net-zero emissions, is to position the UK – already Europe’s leader in offshore wind power – as a “global energy and climate leader”.

Another aim is to “drive [Russian President Vladimir] Putin out of the energy market for good”, the government said in a statement.

Following the meetings with Simson, fellow ministers from Norway and Germany and business leaders, McCarthy spoke of a “race against time” to tackle the climate crisis.

“I am determined the UK leads from the front and our partners from the EU, Germany and Norway have the same ambition, working together and acting with urgency to deliver for future generations,” she said.

Simson, responsible for energy policy in the EU executive, said her meeting had been “constructive”, noting on social media that it touched on nuclear power as well as boosting renewables in Europe’s northern seas.

“The past few years have shown the importance of reliable partners in ensuring energy security for Europe,” she said later in a statement. “Our meeting shows the willingness both sides have for a strong cooperation, which is also essential in delivering the global energy transition.”

The meeting came as UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer travelled to Berlin and Paris as part of his mission to “reset” relations with the EU, a trip that yielded an agreement to have a bilateral treaty with Germany by the end of the year.

The European Commission said today it was “in favour of strengthening relations with the United Kingdom on issues of shared interest”. A spokesperson for the Commission declined to clarify whether any specific projects or cooperation agreements in the field of energy were discussed in Norway.

The UK left the EU’s energy market in 2021 but is connected to the Europe’s energy system via numerous undersea gas and electricity interconnectors, and post-Brexit moves to intensify UK-European cooperation on renewables predate the landslide Labour election win last month.

The previous Conservative government inked a memorandum of understanding in 2022 with the EU’s North Seas Energy Cooperation platform, a group of coastal nationals looking to jointly develop offshore wind and electricity transmission networks.

Norway, which is part of the EU’s internal energy market through its membership of the European Economic Area, also used the Stavanger conference to defend its controversial decision to start exploring for critical raw materials needed for the energy transition in its waters.