Germany, which relies on Russia for more than a third of its gas supplies, enacted the initial “early warning” phase at the end of March, when the Kremlin’s demands for payment in rubles prompted Germany to brace for a potential cutoff in supply.

The EU relied on Russia for as much as 40% of its gas needs before the war - rising to 55% for Germany - leaving a huge gap to fill in an already tight global gas market.

The plan includes increased reliance on coal-fired generation, an auction system to incentivise lower consumption in industry and €15bn in credit lines via the state-owned investment and development bank KfW for the country's gas market operators to fill gas storage facilities faster.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s three-party alliance agreed at the end of March to cut the levy on fuel for three months from June 1 by 30 euro cents per liter for gasoline and 14 cents for diesel, costing the government about 3 billion euros ($3.1 billion) in lost revenue.

Germany advised people to defrost their freezers regularly, change shower heads and switch office lighting to LEDs as the government tries to reduce a reliance on imported Russian energy that’s become a political liability.

The new pact, inked during a Qatari state visit to Germany, comes as Berlin looks to fast-track a number of new LNG import terminals to reduce its dependence on Russian gas imports.

The invasion of Ukraine by Russia has made it clear for all actors in Germany: diversification of gas imports is urgently needed.

German industry is particularly anxious about energy-intensive factories, such as glass, steel, food or drug manufacturing, as well as the chemicals sector, that provide many of the building blocks for industry.

Germany will phase out nuclear energy by 2022.

Russia’s share of German crude consumption has already declined to 12% from about 35% before the war in Ukraine, according to the Economy Ministry in Berlin.