Search
AI-powered search, human-powered content.
scroll to top arrow or icon

Unpacking Lithuania's energy independence strategy

Over the past two years, Lithuania's economy was hit hard first by COVID, then by the Belarusian migrant crisis, and finally high energy prices late last year.

But now it's proving more resilient than others to the effects of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Why? Mostly because they prepared for it, Lithuania's Finance Minister Gintarė Skaistė tells Eurasia Group's Shari Friedman in a GlobalStage conversation.

Indeed, the Baltic nation recently grabbed headlines when it became the first EU member state to stop buying Russian oil and natural gas.


But the Lithuanians started the process seven years ago, soon after Russia annexed Crimea.

How did Lithuania do it? Skaistė explains they put a lot of effort into achieving energy independence from Russia, for instance by investing in LNG terminals and connecting to the Nordic countries and Poland.

"Today we have the fruits of … of this prudent policy in the energy sector."

What's more, Skaistė says Lithuania's energy strategy has facilitated the country's transition to renewables and helped lower overall energy consumption.

Watch more of this Global Stage event: Live from Washington, DC: Financing the Future

More from Global Stage

Can we use AI to secure the world's digital future?

How do we ensure AI is safe, available to everyone, and enhancing productivity? It’s a big topic at this year’s UN General Assembly. That’s why GZERO’s Global Stage livestream brought together leading experts at the heart of the action for “Live from the United Nations: Securing our Digital Future,” an event produced in partnership between the Complex Risk Analytics Fund, or CRAF’d, and GZERO Media’s Global Stage series, sponsored by Microsoft.

Is the Europe-US rift leaving us all vulnerable?

As the tense and politically charged 2025 Munich Security Conference draws to a close, GZERO’s Global Stage series presents a conversation about strained relationships between the US and Europe, Ukraine's path ahead, and rising threats in cyberspace.

AI innovations that tackle the global refugee crisis

“Tech is a means to an end, not the end itself,” says Hovig Etyemezian, head of UNHCR’s Innovation Service. Speaking to GZERO's Tony Maciulis at the 2025 AI for Good Summit in Geneva, Etyemezian explains how technology is helping address one of the world’s most urgent challenges: the record number of forcibly displaced people. As conflicts rise and resources shrink, UNHCR is using data, AI, and digital tools to improve services and empower refugee communities, but only when designed with those communities, not for them.

Europe’s AI Act: World’s first guardrails or just a flashy head start?

“We wanted to be first with a flashy AI law,” says Kai Zenner, digital policy advisor in the European Parliament. Speaking with GZERO's Tony Maciulis at the 2025 AI for Good Summit in Geneva, Zenner explains the ambitions and the complications behind Europe’s landmark AI Act. Designed to create horizontal rules for all AI systems, the legislation aims to set global standards for safety, transparency, and oversight.

How AI for Good is tackling the digital divide

Frederic Werner discusses the importance of AI for global impact at the 2025 AI for Good Summit in Geneva, in an exclusive Global Stage interview with GZERO's Tony Maciulis. They discuss the future of AI and its role in solving humanity's challenges, from harnessing quantum computing to closing the digital divide.

Using AI to diagnose patients with a smartphone but no healthcare access

Artificial intelligence is often seen as a futuristic tool—but for some global health challenges, it’s already the only solution. Dr. Juan Lavista Ferres, Microsoft's Chief Data Scientist, Corporate Vice President, and Lab Director for the AI for Good Lab, points to a powerful example: diagnosing a leading cause of childhood blindness in newborns.