Germany’s energy security strategy in times of turmoil: The role of AI-driven energy systems and environmental policy in the Russian gas exit

Muhammad Salman

Energy Policy, 2025, vol. 205, issue C

Abstract: The 2014 Crimea crisis and the 2022 Russia’s all-out war against Ukraine sent shockwaves across Europe and uncovered the continent's reliance on a key geopolitical adversary. Energy has become a central issue in this situation. European nations have committed to reducing their dependence on Russian fossil fuels. Meanwhile, Russia has restricted gas supplies to some countries and substantially decreased deliveries to others, and Germany found itself in the driver’s seat. This study explores the role of AI-driven energy systems and environmental policy (EPS) in shaping Germany’s response to Russian gas dependency in shifting geopolitical landscape (GPR). Using a battery of robust econometric methods, the findings reveal that AI and EPS significantly reduce Germany’s dependency on Russian gas in both the short and long run, with stronger effects observed over the long term. Geopolitical risk, although having limited direct effects, but its interaction with AI and EPS highlights the compounded benefits of integrated technological advancement and policy strategies in mitigating energy dependency in times of turmoil. Moreover, the interaction between AI, EPS, and the 2014 Crimea crisis (D2014) demonstrated that this crisis acted as a catalyst, accelerating structural changes in Germany's energy policies and diversification efforts. To test robustness, this study uses the 2014 Crimea crisis as an exogenous shock. The Synthetic Control Method (SCM) reveals a significant gap between actual and synthetic Germany’s gas imports, highlighting Germany’s efforts to address energy dependency through AI-driven energy management and policy measures. Policymakers should integrate AI technologies with targeted energy policies to enhance energy resilience and reduce dependency on geopolitical adversaries during times of crisis.

Keywords: AI-Driven energy systems; Environmental policy; Geopolitical risks; Russian gas imports; Germany (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421525002216
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:enepol:v:205:y:2025:i:c:s0301421525002216

DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2025.114714

Access Statistics for this article

Energy Policy is currently edited by N. France

More articles in Energy Policy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().