Happy Nice Mall

It was just three months before the world leaders met. Glasgow climate summit and made ambitious promises to reduce fossil fuel use. The dangers of a warming planet are no less dire now, but critical transition to renewable energy Russia – Europe’s largest energy supplier – has taken the back seat of energy security as it threatens to launch a major conflict with the West. Ukraine as oil prices rise $100 per barrel.

Strategic energy consultant Lucia van Geuns said that for more than a decade policy discussions on gas, oil and coal reduction in Europe and beyond have focused on security and the environment at the expense of financial and economic concerns. The Hague Center for Strategic Studies. Now, it’s the opposite.

“Gas prices went up a lot and suddenly supply and price security became the main topic of public discussion,” he said.

renewed emphasis on energy independence and National Security It can encourage policymakers to back off from efforts to reduce the use of fossil fuels, which pump deadly greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

Rapidly rising prices have already spurred additional production and consumption of fuels that contribute to global warming. Coal imports to the European Union It increased more than 56 percent in January compared to the previous year.

Coal Corporation in England, mine in Wales Permission to increase production by 40 million tons over the next two decades was granted last month. There are plans to open or expand more in Australia. coking coal mines. China, which has traditionally made energy security a priority, has further accelerated and approved coal production. three new billion-dollar coal mines This week.

“Increase your gear countUS energy secretary Jennifer Granholm urged American oil producers to increase their output, said in December. Shale companies Oklahoma, Colorado, and other states want to revive drilling that has been stopped because suddenly there is money to be made. And this month, Exxon Mobil announced plans to increase spending on new oil wells and other projects.

Ian GoldinHigh energy prices could prompt further exploration of traditional fossil fuels, warns Professor of globalization and development at the University of Oxford. “Governments will want to down-prioritize renewable and sustainable energy, which would be exactly the wrong response,” he said.

Europe’s transition to sustainable energy has always been a complex calculus and requires stepping back from the dirtiest fossil fuels like coal, while still working with gas and oil producers to power homes, cars and factories until better alternatives are found.

For Germany, Dependence on Russian gas has been an integral part of the environmental plan for years. Plans for Nord Stream 1, the first direct pipeline between the two countries, began in 1997. A leader in the effort to reduce carbon emissions, Berlin decided to close coal mines and nuclear power plants after the disaster in 2011. fukushima nuclear Herb in Japan. The idea was that Russian gas would provide the fuel needed for years to transition to cleaner energy sources. Two-thirds of the gas Germany burned last year came from Russia.

Future plans call for more gas to be delivered Nord Stream 2A new 746-mile pipeline directly connecting Russia to northeastern Germany under the Baltic Sea.

On Tuesday, after Russian President Vladimir V. Putin recognized the two separatist republics in Ukraine and mobilized forces, Chancellor Olaf Scholz Germany halted the final regulatory review of the $11 billion pipeline completed last year.

“I don’t think the threat from Russia outweighs the threat of climate change, and I don’t see coal mines opening up in Europe,” said James Nixey, director of the Russia-Eurasia program at Chatham House, a research organization. in London.

Certainly, the path of the energy transition has never been clear. Five climate summits have taken place in the last 30 years, and progress has always been scant. This latest setback could be the latest in a long series of middle-of-the-road measures and setbacks.

Still, without a broader strategy to wean itself off gas, Europe will not be able to meet its target of reducing emissions by 55 percent by 2030 compared to 1990 levels, or the Glasgow summit’s goal of reducing net greenhouse gases to zero. 2050.

As Mr Nixey admits, “this debate is changing” as leaders are forced to accept the downsides of dependence on Russian energy.

Even in Germany, where the progressive Greens were gaining a more influential voice in government, there was a change in tone.

This month, Robert HabeckGermany’s new economy and climate change minister and member of the Greens said the events underlined the need to diversify supply. “We have to act here and better secure ourselves,” he said. “If we don’t, we’ll be a pawn in the game.”

As countries emerged from the pandemic shutdowns and demand increased, energy prices began to soar before Mr.

But as Putin took an aggressive stance against Ukraine and energy prices rose higher, the political and strategic vulnerabilities presented by Russia’s control of Europe’s large supply took center stage.

“Europe is highly dependent on Russian gas and oil, and this is unsustainable,” said Sarah E. Mendelson, president of Heinz College in Washington. She added that the US and its European allies have not focused enough on energy independence in recent years.

Comprehensive, europe takes More than a third of its natural gas and 25 percent of its oil comes from Russia. While deliveries have slowed significantly in recent months, reserves in Europe have dwindled to just 31 percent of capacity.

For critics of the European Union’s climate policies, the sudden shift away from greenhouse gas emissions and available fuel reserves is confirmatory.

Arkadiusz Siekaniec, vice-president of the Polish Miners’ Union, has long argued that the European Union’s push to end coal production on the continent is foolish. But now she hopes that others can approach her point of view.

Mr Siekaniec said at the time American troops landed last week that climate policy was a “suicidal task” that could make the entire region heavily dependent on Russian fuel. “It threatens the economy as well as the citizens of Europe and Poland,” he said.

For Mateusz Garus, a blacksmith in Jankowice, a coal mine in Upper Silesia is the heart of the coal country, not politics and climate change, not politics. “We will destroy the energy sector and become dependent on others like Russia,” he said.