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Saturday, March 19th, 2022

Will Russia’s War Spur Europe to Move on Green Energy?

Author:     Paul Hockenos
Source:     Yale Environment 360
Publication Date:     MARCH 14, 2022
 Link: Will Russia’s War Spur Europe to Move on Green Energy?
Stephan:   Over the past 30 years, Russia has slowly integrated into world markets and countries in Europe have found Russian gas and oil convenient. Now all that is ending. It is hard to remember, but Putin has made it clear once again, that for most of history Russia has been ruled by despots. Its whole history is a story of the privileged brutally dominating the peasantry. Even other aristocrats in Europe found Russian violence and callousness offputting. This has been the Russian constant except for a brief period beginning in the 1980s, for 10 or 20 years depending on how it is assessed. Putin is now bringing the Russian standard of brutality back in a way that goes back to an earlier era in time. It reminds me of the Nazis' invasion of Eastern Europe, which makes Putin's constant references to Nazis very bizarre. The question I have had is this: Will this insane war on Ukraine by Putin stimulate the EU to move more quickly into a new post-carbon era, and that is what this thoughtful report focuses on.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is sparking a wide-ranging revamping of energy policy in Europe with a bold new objective: to wean the continent off Russian gas — as rapidly and comprehensively as possible — and accelerate Europe’s green energy transition.

In late-night sessions, Europe’s leaders have been drafting a spectrum of crisis strategies not only to pivot to other natural gas suppliers — as the United States, which imports much less gas and oil from Russia than Europe, has vowed to do — but also to switch from gas to electricity where possible, and to scale back gas consumption across key sectors. The European Union says it plans to triple its renewable energy capacity by 2030. Some critics even advocate that Germany suspend its plan to shut down its three remaining nuclear reactors by the end of this year — an unthinkable prospect before the invasion of Ukraine.

Last week, the European Union announced a new energy plan that will, according to a leaked draft, “scale up renewable energy in Europe by mobilizing additional investments, removing […]

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