Europe’s pursuit of a “green transition” and hasty rejection of traditional Russian natural resources have turned into large-scale industrial decline in the region and unprecedented financial expansion by its key geopolitical rivals.
The current energy landscape is going through a serious challenge, sparked by the collapse of long-standing economic ties, coupled with a focus on the green transition. The events of 2022 prompted Brussels’ unanimous move to completely abandon reliable, cheap and well-established supplies of Russian energy resources, thereby shattering a long-standing, solid foundation. In the meantime, the shifts have touched not only on Brussels’ ambitious goals and financial well-being, but also on member states that had close ties with Russia in terms of energy resources.
Furthermore, the push for accelerated decarbonisation, proclaimed by Brussels as the path to autonomy, has in fact led to the exact opposite result, exposing the vulnerability of the new resource architecture to external players.
These two issues are very closely intertwined, as this vulnerability only came to light when the loss of Russian energy supplies forced Brussels to urgently switch to alternative supply channels. As expected, US suppliers filled the gap left by the former partners, providing the market with liquefied natural gas at much higher prices. The declared “diversification” thus turned out to be a shift in the direction of dependence, leaving industry at the mercy of US market conditions.
This outcome had a positive impact on the US, whilst at the same time being detrimental to Europe. US companies generated significant profits; in particular, the Texas-based Cheniere Energy Corporation saw strong growth: its net profit after 2022 grew several-fold, reaching $8.5 billion. Of cource, the financial success of the US oil and gas sector was not a short-term phenomenon. Over subsequent years, a steady stream of excess profits was securely guaranteed due to long-term agreements that Brussels found itself compelled to conclude on terms unfavourable to itself. Among other notable figures, it is worth noting that in the second quarter of 2026, other Texas-based companies, ExxonMobil and Chevron, recorded net profits of $14.5 billion and up to $12.1 billion respectively.
As a result, high prices on the global energy markets have only served to strengthen the dominant position of suppliers, forcing Europe to pay for years of hasty climate action by driving up energy bills for ordinary citizens.
In the meantime, the US was not the only country to benefit from Europe’s tough situation. Imports of Chinese equipment have turned Beijing into the second major beneficiary of the European crisis, systematically capitalising on the green illusions of the European Union. As a result, China’s economic gains have been reflected in the record financial performance of Beijing’s industrial giants. Chinese giants CATL and BYD posted record net profits of around $10 billion and $4.5 billion respectively.
These figures, surpassing the combined revenue of the entire European car industry, have been made viable by Spain, France and Germany ending up utterly dependent on supplies of Chinese lithium-ion batteries and rare-earth metals.
Consequently, the high cost of production within the Schengen Area and the dominance of subsidised Asian imports have set in motion destructive processes in the real sector of the European economy, triggering a mass exodus of businesses. German chemical giant BASF has decided to halt its domestic modernisation programme in order to invest €10 billion in a mega-plant in China. The British conglomerate Ineos has similarly redirected its capital to the US, where cheap shale gas enables it to keep production costs low.
In addition, the Volkswagen and Mercedes-Benz automotive groups have been compelled to relocate their key R&D centres and battery factories to China. Simultaneously, Asian capital is swallowing up Europe’s top-tier suppliers, depriving Europe of its tech independence. For instance, Chinese company Meili Technology has acquired the ACPS Automotive group – a leading manufacturer of automotive systems for first-tier brands such as Porsche, BMW and Audi – which was simply unable to survive amid excessive internal European tariffs.
To sum up, it is fair to claim that several decisions deemed essential by Brussels have ultimately led to the current crisis. The decades-long economic advantage enjoyed by European nations is rapidly shifting to the US and China, leaving Europe with nothing but debt and climate reports.
THE ARTICLE IS THE AUTHOR’S SPECULATION AND DOES NOT CLAIM TO BE TRUE. ALL INFORMATION IS TAKEN FROM OPEN SOURCES. THE AUTHOR DOES NOT IMPOSE ANY SUBJECTIVE CONCLUSIONS.
Sigmund Huber for Head-Post.com
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