EU energy response threatens its climate goals

The measures proposed by the European Commission to accelerate the disconnection of Russian gas and cushion the escalation of prices in the electricity market place geopolitical urgency in the first line of energy action and take priority away from the European Union’s climate objectives. The EU executive believes it is possible, although difficult, for the EU to reduce its gas dependence on Russia by 66% in a year by increasing imports of liquefied natural gas and hydrogen, improving efficiency and accelerating the deployment of renewables. That is the path to separate from Russian gas by 2030.

That date is key, because the EU set itself less than a year ago the legally binding obligation to reduce its CO emissions by at least 55%₂ by the end of the decade compared to 1990 levels and Brussels has repeatedly boasted of climate ambition and vanguard before the international community.

Charcoal

The desire to move away from Russian gas, and the exorbitant price of that raw material, are making coal, a hydrocarbon that releases more _CO2 than gas but which, in the context of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, is economically and geopolitically attractive, is back in vogue. Germany, for example, has reactivated generation plants with coal, the fossil fuel responsible for 40% of global greenhouse gas emissions. “It is a sovereign decision of each member state to say: ”okay, we will continue a little more with nuclear or with coal,'” said a few days ago the vice president of the European Commission and responsible for the Green Deal, Frans Timmermans, who insists that countries will have to fulfill the EU’s commitment for 2030. Unless consumers’ energy sobriety plays an extraordinary role – the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Policy, Josep Borrell, has called on Europeans to “turn down the heating of their homes” – burning more coal will mean that the EU will emit more CO₂ short-term.

In return, the Twenty-seven will have to deepen the cut as the decade progresses, and as the renewable generation parks whose construction is to be accelerated now are operational, since the 2030 target is mandatory by law. This substitution of coal for gas was already taking place globally. According to the International Energy Agency, global _CO2 emissions registered a “historic” increase of 6% in 2021 because the prohibitive price of gas means that more coal is being burned and more carbon dioxide is being released. However, this increase in emissions is not out of the expected trend, since some projections prior to the escalation of energy prices already pointed to a global peak of emissions being reached by 2025, and then gradually reduced.

Petroleum

The measures proposed by the European Commission focus on reviewing the formation of prices in the electricity market and also on getting rid of Russian gas, which accounts for around 40% of the consumption of that hydrocarbon in the EU. But Brussels has not, for now, messed with coal or oil, raw materials that also register record prices and that the EU imports from Russia by 46% and 27%, respectively. On the other side of the Atlantic, Washington has acted against the three Russian hydrocarbons – gas, coal and oil – by banning all imports. But the starting situation is radically different. The United States is a large energy producer with little exposure to Russia, while the EU is a net importer and depends enormously on the country presided over by Vladimir Putin, from which in 2021 it bought 148,000 million euros in energy, reports Efe.

In any case, the IEA has already put oil in the spotlight and, like the plan it presented for the EU to reduce its dependence on gas and in which the European Commission has inspired, this OECD agency presented a few days ago another block of guidelines to move away from Russian crude. In oil, Russia is also the leading exporter, but there is a world market there and we are talking to the producing countries to get more oil to market. With his advice, he believes that if fully implemented in the developed world, demand could be reduced by 2.7 million barrels per day in a period of four months. It is committed to reducing speed to 110 km / h on highways and highways, teleworking and Sundays without cars.

Germany goes to Qatar in search of gas

The German Minister of Economy and Climate, Robert Habeck, began this Sunday in Qatar a tour of the Middle East in which they agreed to the formation of a long-term energy partnership. After meeting in Doha with the state’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Zani, the German said the agreement is a step towards achieving less dependence on Russian gas, in view of the war in Ukraine. Qatar is known for being one of the world’s largest exporters of liquefied natural gas (LNG). In order to diversify its energy sources, Germany plans to build terminals.

Source: Reason