High gas and electricity prices will continue to plague Europe for at least 20 years and damage the competitiveness of industries that employ almost 30m people, the world’s leading energy forecaster has warned.
In findings likely to inflame claims that EU climate change policies are damaging the bloc’s manufacturers, the International Energy Agency said Europe would lose a third of its global market share of energy-intensive exports over the next two decades because energy prices will stay stubbornly higher than those in the US.
A number of EU countries have embraced green energy subsidies, shunned nuclear power and resisted the shale exploration that has fuelled a manufacturing renaissance in the US, prompting growing anger among industry leaders who say this has been a recipe for competitive ruin.