Europe, with its developed industry and large national budgets, is well-positioned to make significant initial investments in environmentally friendly power plants. Although electricity demand in Europe remains relatively stable, there is a need for clean electricity to replace outdated, polluting power plants and to support various green climate solutions.

One obstacle to building environmentally friendly power plants is the need to cover the initial costs, which require relatively large initial investments. This can be overcome through government investment, subsidies, or mandatory requirements, as well as through innovative financing.

Another obstacle is that some environmentally friendly energy sources — solar and wind — operate intermittently and therefore cannot directly replace fossil fuels around the clock. This problem can be solved by combining energy storage systems and other flexible technologies, geographic diversity in the production of solar and wind energy, as well as assistance from clean baseload power plants that can supply more stable (but often more expensive) energy, such as hydroelectric, geothermal, and nuclear power plants.

If European countries quickly build a large number of environmentally friendly power plants, this will also reduce the cost of energy and improve scalability, helping the rest of the world to move faster.

Discard 1 card from your hand, then add 1 Clean Energy token to your player board for each Grid tag in this card's stack.

• Renewable Energy (The European Environmental Agency)

• Which EU countries use the most renewable energy? (Euronews)

• Support clean energy initiatives in your community, for example those that install solar panels or support community energy projects.

• Ask your political representatives to invest in and streamline the buildout of clean energy generators and crucially, the infrastructure to support them, including batteries and other flexible tech.

• Support, join, or donate to an organization that works to improve access to affordable, reliable, and sustainable energy. Sustainable Energy for All, for example, aims to ensure everybody has access to such energy by 2030.