Europe’s governments must work together to deliver a “visible and stable” European energy policy or they will fail to attract the investment they need to meet sharply rising demand, according to Pierre Gadonneix, president of the World Energy Council and chairman of French energy group EDF.

“We must be planning a strategy for high energy prices. That is a new factor in the environment and that will require huge investment,” Mr Gadonneix told the Financial Times. “The challenge for energy policy today is to give investors the visibility they must have to provide the very big sums we need. It is very important for all energy operators that Europe makes these statements.”