The great electrification

The great electrification is reshaping the energy system of the EU at unprecedented speed. What began as a primarily climate‑driven transition has become central to the EU’s strategic agenda, evolving into a response to deep structural challenges: the EU’s competitiveness, its heavy reliance on imported fossil fuels, and the geopolitical risks that come with it. As the EU accelerates its shift toward a green, affordable, and strategically autonomous energy future, electricity is set to become the backbone of energy supply and demand. The push for electrification comprises intertwined transitions – scaling renewables, strengthening grids, and electrifying end‑use sectors – that can both enable and constrain one another. Imbalances between these elements create system frictions, making holistic planning and steady investment essential to advance Europe’s climate and competitiveness agenda. Strengthening a renewable‑based electricity system is now essential not only for lowering emissions, but also for improving strategic autonomy and ensuring secure, affordable energy across the region.

In this series, the Energy Transition RaboResearch team explores the structural forces driving the EU’s electrification, including the policy, technology, and geopolitical dynamics behind it. This series offers a comprehensive view of the great electrification across its key dimensions – energy demand, power supply, grids and flexibility, raw materials, regulation, and geopolitics. The great electrification will be a long and complex process, and each publication explores a different aspect of how this transformation can be aligned with Europe’s climate, competitiveness, and security objectives.

The EU’s drive toward a green, affordable, and autonomous energy system – February 2, 2026

The EU's energy transition is no longer just about climate, it's also about competitiveness and strategic autonomy. In this first report of our series on “the great electrification,” we explain how electrifying demand, scaling renewables, and upgrading grids will reshape the EU's energy future.

The great electrification: Scenario based insights into the EU’s accelerating shift to electricity – March 24, 2026

The second report in our series provides a comparative scenario review revealing electrification as a structural trend in the EU energy system, with all pathways showing faster acceleration beyond 2030.