German Dependency on Foreign Energy

Tensions surfaced at the NATO summit in Brussels this week as President Trump targeted some of the US’s strongest allies. President Trump attacked Chancellor Angela Merkel on Germany’s dependence on Russian natural gas.

Putting this accusation into context, Germany secures roughly three fifths of its energy needs from foreign sources. A fifth of its overall energy consumption comes from natural gas.

These dependency numbers have been creeping up over the past decade and are expected to steadily increase in the years to come as Nord Stream 2, a natural gas pipeline under the Baltic Sea, takes effect bringing a stream of natural gas directly into Germany.