Opinion | To Truly Take on Russia, America Must Become the Arsenal of Clean Energy

The war in Ukraine underscores the need for Europe to wean itself off Russian gas.

With Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, democracies of the world got another reminder — as if we needed one — of how dangerous it is to rely on energy imported from aggressive, authoritarian states.

The European Union is dependent on Russia for almost half of its natural gas and a quarter of its oil. Germany alone imports 55 percent of the gas it consumes from Putin’s petro-state. As part of its invasion strategy, Russia thought it could use its natural gas and oil to blackmail Europe into passivity. Europe is belatedly beginning to shut off the Russian spigot, but it will pay a heavy economic price for the delay.

And for Europe’s energy switch to succeed, the United States must step up.

Just as we were the Arsenal of Democracy when fascism threatened Europe 80 years ago, today we must become the Arsenal of Clean Energy. That means we should finance and export clean energy to Europe in large quantities as quickly as possible. This approach would help protect our own security and economic interests, as well as the sovereignty, democracies, and economies of Europe, all while working to combat climate change.

Our goals should be: 1) make European energy secure; 2) help shift European countries to cleaner energy; and 3) create a massive clean energy market that strengthens supply chains and job creation in the U.S.

To make this work, we must avoid both conventional and magical thinking. This is not about sending cheap Chinese equipment to Europe, and it’s not about somehow shifting to solar power in the cloudy regions of Central and Eastern Europe. In the European Union, it’s still natural gas that drives the economy. Gas heats buildings, generates electricity, and provides industrial power and heat in about equal measure. Oil powers transportation and is used for petrochemicals. Whatever replaces Russian natural gas and oil must meet all these needs. The refrain from some quarters that we just need to go "all renewables" and make everything more efficient ignores all of Europe's other energy needs. That is why, as one example, Poland, Romania, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Slovenia, and (before it was invaded) Ukraine all want to build American nuclear power plants, and France and the Netherlands have plans to build non-Russian, non-Chinese plants.

Of course, it’s not at all clear whether America can become the Arsenal of Clean Energy, given today’s bitterly divided politics. Yet clean, firm energy — energy that is always on — remains one of the few areas where there is deep, bipartisan support in Congress. Democrats have long championed the need for a clean energy transition. And now that Republicans have embraced defending the sovereignty of Europe against the immediate threat from authoritarian Russia, the moment should be met with urgency.

That starts with an energy version of the “Candy Bombers” who supplied Berlin during the Soviet Union’s blockade in 1948. In this case, we could provide a temporary natural gas lifeline to Europe as they wean themselves off Russian energy. America has some additional capacity, and more coming online very soon, to send liquefied natural gas to Europe. We should combine a near-term increase in U.S. gas production and exports to Europe with assistance for European countries to, over the medium-term, reduce their reliance on natural gas by switching to other, lower-carbon fuels and increased energy efficiency.

Second, to ensure this lifeline leads Europe to a safe and sustainable future, the United States needs to create an American clean energy sovereignty fund. We should commit to $10 billion per year for the next decade to finance the export of U.S. hydrogen, nuclear, and carbon capture technology that can be deployed across Europe. The new technologies should be supported by both U.S. and European supply chains and workers to ensure economic growth across both continents. This government-backed entity would provide a significant cost-share for countries importing U.S. clean energy, particularly technologies that will be primarily made in and exported from the U.S.

As we are seeing now with Germany’s reconsideration of its decision to close its nuclear plants, even renewable-heavy countries need firm clean energy provided by technologies like nuclear power. This is even more important in industrial areas of Eastern Europe that need both the steady electricity and high heat that nuclear, or hydrogen, can provide.

Finally, as all of Washington knows by now, personnel is policy. To underscore the urgency of this mission, the Biden administration should create a new, senior position at the National Security Council to manage clean, firm energy and coordinate the alphabet soup of agencies involved. This position would oversee a new “Team Energy” of public and private sector experts who can cut through the bureaucracy.

The administration should also prioritize nominations to fill the two long vacant posts on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. These nominees must support the president’s view that exporting nuclear energy is vital to addressing both climate change and energy sovereignty. At a time of crisis like the one in which we now find ourselves, speed matters. Companies and countries shouldn’t have to wait for American technologies because of opaque and arcane contracting or licensing processes.

The invasion of Ukraine is not an aberration. It is the start of a frightening new era that requires bold American and global democratic leadership and a long-overdue recognition that energy and security are inextricably linked. Russia and China have acted on this reality to push their authoritarian, expansionist agenda for more than a decade.

It is time we build on the legacy of U.S. leadership in World War II and the Cold War and meet this moment. If we become the Arsenal of Clean Energy, we can support democracy, address the climate crisis, and create new economic opportunities across America.