The conflict in the Middle East has been a stark reminder that Europe pays a major cost for continuing to depend on imported fossil fuels. Soaring prices are threatening growth and fuelling inflation. Against this backdrop, investments in renewable energy are no longer about meeting climate targets. They are existential, and central to achieving competitiveness and strategic independence for Europe.
investments in renewable energy are no longer about meeting climate targets. They are existential,
It was always existential to anybody with a brain
Yesterday please.
It’s been like that for decades, it’s just now front and centre in the public consciousness now. But prior to the Iran war there was already a major build out on renewable energy and alternative energy sources. What’s really changed is a recognition that dragging heels on this and deferring difficult decisions is no longer tenable. However it remains to be seen whether EU leaders will actually act or continue to spout rhetoric while sucking on the teets of Russian and Middle Eastern oil.
Also the Ukraine war, with a lot of the energy deals with Russia being cut. A lot was done back then.
Its pretty straightforward: after the 2022 invasion of Ukraine by Russia -especially after the bombing of Nord Stream 2- most Western European countries thought they could offset Russian oil with imports of LNG from Qatar and the US.
Qatar has now been taken off the market for years to come, US trade has become a tool for economic coercion or even subversion (as was the case with Russia).
Easy access to uranium deposits in Africa have also been undermined by both Russia and Islamic extremists, so nuclear power is also off the table.
Renewable energy has become the only option for energy security, though this in turn makes us dependent on Chinese imports and international shipping.
Any way you cut it, there are no easy options for Europe. The EU will have to learn geopolitics if it has any chance to survive. Moderate politicians will have to learn to think and act as Europeans and to instill a sense of European pride and European identity in their constituents.
Likewise, if they keep prioritizing short-term national interests over long-term European ones, then they’ll lose eventually out to right-wing extremists, who will then actively try and sabotage the European project altogether.
That time was already yesterday. But our politicians seem more keen on copying the US and riding into doom.
