Energy holds an important place in our economies. It is a factor of production for industry as well as a key element in our everyday life, for instance it enables us to meet our heating and mobility needs. The energy question has been a major concern for some time. And not without reason: many challenges will have to be taken up in this field in the decades to come, for example:

• the security of energy supply in the context of growing world energy demand, gradual exhaustion of oil and natural gas reserves and wide energy price fluctuations;
• the European integration of the electricity and gas markets;
• the fight against climate change.