EU leaders aim to protect energy supplies

BRUSSELS – European Union leaders met Thursday to discuss ways to ease the pain of soaring energy bills for consumers, while seeking to safeguard energy supplies to the 27-nation bloc by speeding up the transition away from polluting fossil fuels to sustainable alternatives. The energy debate at the EU leaders’ summit comes amid spiraling prices that are pummeling households and businesses still reeling from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The talks also come just 10 days ahead of the opening of a U.N. climate summit that is widely seen as the last chance to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

The debate on spiraling energy prices also takes place against a backdrop of frosty relations with Russia, a key supplier of gas to Europe.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell called the energy price explosion this year the consequence “of a big geopolitical game.”