US President Donald Trump’s threats over Greenland have accelerated Europe’s push for energy independence, officials suggested, as European and UK ministers agreed to build a vast offshore wind grid in the North Sea.

EU energy commissioner Dan Jørgensen said the continent did not want to “swap one dependency with a new dependency”, as it tries to move away from Russian gas but becomes increasingly dependent on fuel shipped from the US.

He made the comments as nine countries with interests in the North Sea, including the UK, Norway, Germany and the Netherlands, said at a summit in Hamburg that they aimed to support a steady build-out of 15 gigawatts of offshore wind each year between 2031 and 2040. The EU wants to meet a target of about 300GW by 2050 — up from about 37GW at present.

As part of that goal, the countries have also agreed to jointly develop about 100GW of offshore wind projects by 2050, which would involve creating a grid in the North Sea with cables linking turbines to multiple countries.

The pledges are part of a push on offshore wind, which has intensified since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. In the lead-up to the war, Moscow started to cut flows of gas to the EU in retaliation for its support for Kyiv. 

EU countries also gave the final sign-off on Monday to a total ban on imports of Russian gas by 2027.

Asked at the Hamburg summit whether Greenland was part of the discussions and what signal officials wanted to send to the US, Jørgensen replied: “We are not against trading with the US — on the contrary. 

“But we are of course aware — and this goes for all countries, not only the US — that we are not aiming at replacing one dependency with a new dependency. We want to grow our own energy and our strategy in the future is to become free of gas.”

The comments highlight Europe’s uneasy position after Trump’s threats to seize Greenland put transatlantic relations under the greatest strain for decades. In a speech at Davos last week, Trump backed down from his threat to acquire Greenland from Denmark using military force and touted a future deal over the territory.

The EU has committed to buy $250bn of US energy imports a year, including gas and nuclear technology, as part of its trade deal struck with Washington last year.

European imports of US liquefied natural gas increased almost four times from 21bn cubic metres in 2021 to about 81bn cubic metres in 2025, according to data from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis.

US shipments now make up 57 per cent of the bloc’s LNG supply, causing energy analysts to warn of over-reliance on the US.

Before 2022, Russian gas accounted for about two-fifths of the bloc’s supply.

Governments in Europe and the UK view renewables as a more secure source of energy for the gas-poor continent.

The steps outlined by European ministers to boost offshore wind are also aimed at restoring the industry’s fortunes following a difficult few years due to surging costs and delays accessing the electricity grid. 

Trade group WindEurope said more European countries were now moving towards offering revenue guarantees to offshore wind developers as standard, after Denmark and Germany held subsidy-free auctions, which failed to attract any bids.

Under the contracts funded by bill payers, wind developers receive the difference between the prevailing wholesale electricity price and a guaranteed price if the former is lower. If it is higher, developers have to pay back the difference. 

In return for the greater political commitment, the industry says it will lower costs by 30 per cent by 2040 compared with 2025 levels of about €95 per megawatt-hour.

Among Monday’s announcements were plans for a new electricity cable connecting offshore wind farms in Germany and the UK to both countries simultaneously.

The project, from the UK’s National Grid and German grid operator TenneT Germany, would allow electricity from two offshore wind farms to be sent either to Britain or Germany depending on prices in each market. Currently, projects typically only export electricity to one country.