The European Green Deal brings many new opportunities for sustainable investment in the energy sector. The Modernisation Fund, the Just Transition Fund, the Innovation Fund are key financial instruments through which the Central and East European countries will be able to finance their transition to clean energy sources and the required infrastructure.

The panel will address the decarbonization paths that are cost effective for the energy sector, in general, and the gas sector, in particular, the potential for sector integration, the challenges of securing a just transition for the carbon-intensive regions, the adequate protection of vulnerable consumers, and the overall issue of economic competitiveness.

Recent EU strategies – Hydrogen Strategy, Energy System Integration Strategy, and the Industrial Strategy – embedded in the European Green Deal are framing a bold vision of climate neutrality by 2050 and a broad policy approach to that sets both constraints and openings for the natural gas sector.