Fossil fuel imports to Germany go down as costs increase – report

Germany is reducing its fossil fuel imports even as the cost of buying them has increased from 2021 to 2023, according to a report by the Öko-Institut published by news network RND. Germany imported significantly less coal, oil and gas in 2023 than in 2021, the year in which Russia’s war against Ukraine started, and fuelled the European energy crisis, said the report commissioned by Michael Bloss, Green Party Member of the European Parliament.

Still, net imports of oil, gas, coal and nuclear energy cost the country over 80 billion euros in 2023 (€69 billion in 2021) and, while data for December 2024 is missing, are still expected to be above 2021-levels for last year. This is twice as high as all investments into renewable energy.

"We need to get out of this [fossil fuel import] dependency much faster and use the money to invest domestically and make electricity, e-cars and climate-friendly alternatives affordable," Bloss said.

While Europe and Germany have come a long way in reducing their dependence on Russian fossil fuel supplies, they are still heavily dependent on imports as domestic resources are often largely depleted or their extraction is too costly. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the energy crisis put the question of import dependence front and centre of the debate, with renewables expansion seen as a key solution. Up until end of 2021, Russia was the main supplier of oil and natural gas to the EU. It was also Germany's main supplier of oil, gas and hard coal.