IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol speaks at a press conference in Brussels, Belgium. (Photo: AFP/VNA)

This is a serious challenge, IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol told a press conference with the European Commission in Brussels.

The European Union faces a potential shortfall of almost 30 billion cubic meters of natural gas in 2023, but this gap can be closed and the risk of shortages avoided through stronger efforts to improve energy efficiency, deploy renewables, install heat pumps, promote energy savings, and increase gas supplies, the IEA says in a new report.