Russia's invasion of Ukraine has supercharged Europe's green transition | The Independent - 0 views
www.independent.co.uk/...-putin-energy-eu-b2031344.html
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“Let’s dash into renewable energy at lightning speed,” said European Green Deal Commissioner, Frans Timmermans announcing Europe’s plans to reduce its dependency on Russian fossil fuels after the country’s invasion of Ukraine. “Putin’s war in Ukraine demonstrates the urgency of accelerating our clean energy transition.”
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The proposal earlier this week aims to make Europe independent from Russian fossil fuels well before 2030, starting with gas, and to reduce EU demand for Russian gas by two thirds before the end of the year.
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“Geopolitics and climate transitions are one and the same today,” said Olivia Lazard, a visiting scholar at Carnegie Europe.
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“This communication elevates progress on renewable energy and efficiency to a matter of energy security,” said Lisa Fischer, a programme leader at E3G, an independent climate change think tank. “This may transform politics – geopolitical interests will no longer come at the expense of climate policy, but climate policy as a response to geopolitical challenges.”
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The strategy includes importing more gas from non-Russian suppliers, boosting volumes of biomethane and renewable hydrogen production and imports, and reducing the use of fossil fuels in homes, buildings and industry more quickly by increasing energy efficiency, renewables and electrification.
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The European Union has said the answer to ensure greater energy resilience is to invest in renewables, while in the meantime diversifying gas supplies and boosting underground gas storage to at least 90 per cent across the EU by 1 October
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Anthony Browne, Conservative chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on the Environment, said the Ukraine crisis had shown that net zero was a matter of the UK’s national security.
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the UK is significantly less reliant on Russian fossil fuels than the European Union. The EU imports 90 percent of its gas consumption, with Russia providing around 45 percent of those imports and some countries like Germany particularly reliant. Russia also accounts for around 25 percent of oil imports and 45 percent of coal imports.
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The proposal is not a done deal, however, and will need to be implemented by European member states.“It is largely unclear whether they will do so and how such measures can be financed,” said Michael Pahle, of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research.
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Pahle also said there is a risk that if scaled-up targets end up not being met, failure could be attributed to overly ambitious climate policy, rather than energy security.