How Ukraine invasion could accelerate Europe’s clean energy transition

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In response to Putin’s actions, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced plans to halt the development of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which is designed to transport natural gas between Russia and the northern part of this country.

It also imposed various sanctions, including the European Union and the United States. tight restrictions about some state-owned financial institutions and the Russian elite. US President Joe Biden has promised to take tougher action against Russia if he “continues his aggression”.

He stressed that the administration is taking deliberate steps to ensure that the conflict does not increase energy costs for US consumers.

“We are pursuing a plan for joint investment with major oil-producing consumers and producers to stabilize and secure the global energy supply,” Biden said in a speech at the White House on Tuesday. according to CNN. “This will blunt gas prices. I want to limit the pain the American people feel at the gas pump.”

There are several scenarios that could lead to price increases. International sanctions can directly or indirectly increase the production or distribution costs of fossil fuels. The conflict itself could affect the functioning of gas pipelines running through Ukraine. And Russia may decide to slow down or even stop supply for strategic purposes.

While European countries can tap into other sources for oil and coal, limited global supplies and existing pipeline systems severely limit alternative options for natural gas. A complete shutdown of Russian gas to Western Europe, especially a long-term outage, will require a variety of frantic efforts to heat homes and keep industries online. a new analysis Bruegel is an economic think tank. These include curbing energy demands, increasing domestic production, tapping into emergency reserves, striving to find alternative suppliers, postponing the retirement of nuclear power plants, and potentially recommissioning some retired coal power plants.

But the deep interdependence between Russia and Western Europe would make such a worst-case scenario “highly irrational”, says Laurent Ruseckas, managing director of IHS Markit, a consulting firm focused on gas markets in Europe and Asia.

Russia will both lose a critical source of income and openly hostile Western Europe, forcing countries to take extreme steps to definitively eliminate their dependence on these natural gas imports. According to some observers, it could draw more countries into the conflict and lead to more costly sanctions.

Putin for himself will not interrupt Flow of natural gas to international markets.

However, the situation underscores Europe’s fragility, especially after months of already high energy prices. These increases are the resurgent global economy as pandemic restrictions are lifted; A particularly harsh European winter depleting natural gas reserves in 2020-2021; Germany’s untimely decision to shut down most of its nuclear power plants; China’s increased use of liquefied natural gas; and lower than normal natural gas exports from Russia. Some saw the nation’s already tightening supply as a strategic effort to push prices up or push them. approval of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline passing through Germany

Some fear the events in Ukraine and the resulting energy security problems can distract Europe’s leaders focus on meeting their mid-century climate targets. Of course, some politicians and the public will argue that climate policies and the shift to renewable energy sources are responsible for Europe’s unstable energy supply. They will highlight the unusually low wind power generation in the UK in recent months due to weak winds in the region.

But Nikos Tsafos of the Center for Strategic and International Studies objection to these views and argues that further price increases would only “double up” the European Union’s transition to clean energy. The EU has already implemented some of the world’s most ambitious climate policies, setting rapid targets for the transition to carbon-neutral energy production and industrial applications. Most importantly, many of these measures also act as a buffer against international constraints on fossil fuel resources.



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