In short
- Energy supplies increasingly serve as instruments of coercion and targets of war
- Amid volatile geopolitics, Europe faces a “double bind”: it must manage fragile fossil dependencies while addressing the bottlenecks that complicate homegrown expansion
- Ensuring civil-military stability urgently requires integrated security planning and greater redundancy across electricity and liquid fuel systems
- Aligning the civilian energy sector with defence can also channel energy innovations toward greater operational utility
- Ultimately, pooled investments across these domains can spur lead markets for innovations with critical dual-use benefits
Europe’s security, readiness and transition objectives converge in a critical dimension: energy resilience. This policy brief analyses this nexus, outlining the strategic considerations and entry points linking energy innovation with the security and defence agenda. At a time when energy supplies are increasingly weaponised for political leverage and targeted to undermine stability, integrated planning is necessary to address vulnerabilities across both liquid fuel and electricity systems. This includes targeted security investments in critical infrastructure and increased system redundancy through diversified sources. Furthermore, improving the synergy between the civilian energy sector and the defence industry can help to identify niches where innovative energy solutions may provide an operational edge in efficiency stealth or mobility. Ultimately, coordinated financing, policy alignment and pooled Research & Development can support the wider European industry by increasing economies of scale and the likelihood of cross-fertilisation with dual-use technologies, thereby supporting wider societal transition needs.
About the authors:
Floor Stoelinga is a Researcher specialising in EU affairs and the governance of technical-social security within the energy, climate, and economic sector.
Hannah Lentschig is a Research Fellow at Clingendael’s EU & Global Affairs Unit.
Louise van Schaik is Head of Unit EU & Global Affairs. She also coordinates Clingendael research in the field of climate change and sustainability.