Can EU renewables outmuscle US oil and gas? in General Energy News 03/03/2026 During a trip to Europe last week, the Donald Trump-appointed US Energy Secretary, Chris Wright, called on the International Energy Agency (IEA) to pivot from clean energy to fossil fuels. At a meeting at the Paris headquarters of the intergovernmental body dedicated to global energy security, Wright referred to the “destructive illusion” of the IEA’s commitment to massively reducing greenhouse gas emissions sourced from fossil fuels. The US, one of 45 member and associate countries of the IEA that represent 75% of the world’s energy demand, is threatening to withdraw from the body if it does not quit its energy transition goals in the next year, the energy head said. Wright, the founder and former CEO of Liberty Energy, a US oil and gas fracking major, is outspoken on what he calls “climate alarmism.” His energy department released a controversial climate report in July 2025 that downplayed the impact of rising temperatures linked to burning fossil fuels. Climate-fuelled extreme weather racked up $120 (€101) billion in damages in 2025 alone, according to one assessment. Yet the US energy head’s report argued that CO2-induced warming was “less damaging economically than commonly believed.” What Wright does believe, however, is that policies to transition away from fossil fuels have damaged both the US and EU economy. While in Europe, he told reporters that the clean energy transition, or what he called the “climate cult,” has “reduced economic opportunities for Europeans.” He has previously said that “climate alarmism” has reduced energy freedom and thereby prosperity and national security across Western Europe. Have renewables really hurt the EU economy? Sam Alvis, an associate director covering environment and energy security at the UK-based Institute for Public Policy Research, rejects the idea that renewables uptake has hurt the European economy. Over 25% of energy in the bloc comes from clean sources. “It couldn’t be further from the truth,” he told DW. “Onshore solar and wind remain the cheapest form of energy available,” he said of a region that has few domestic fossil fuel reserves. Solar panel costs have dropped around 90% in a decade as Chinese manufacturing capacity explodes. A recent University of Surrey study confirmed that solar energy has become the cheapest global source of large-scale power generation, beating coal, gas and wind. Meanwhile, fossil fuel prices have fluctuated heavily. In the months following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine by Russia — Europe’s biggest gas supplier at the time — electricity and gas prices in Europe hit record highs. European leaders have recently expressed concern about Europe’s dependence on rising imports of liquified natural gas (LNG) from the US after it lost Russian supplies. They are also calling for more investment in domestic renewables. “Forward-looking, globally-competitive economies will require ready access to an abundant supply of clean energy,” said Julie McNamara, deputy policy director of the Climate and Energy Program at US nonprofit, the Union of Concerned Scientists. Calls by the US energy secretary to “lock-in more uptake of fossil fuels” is “actively undermining Europe’s strong and strategic commitments to the clean energy transition,” she told DW. Spanish energy is cheap and clean Meanwhile in Spain, the economy has benefited from a rapid shift to wind and solar energy. The southern European n