He added that battery storage costs will also be financially competitive by 2030, meaning variable wind and solar energy production will be less of an issue. "Renewables are already cheaper investments than existing gas capacity," said Jonathan Sims, a senior analyst at Carbon Tracker. It can be done more cost-effectively in line with a precipitous drop in renewable energy prices. īy contrast, existing solar and wind energy resources can be significantly scaled up as part of existing decarbonization policies. The initial problem is the long lead time, which can be decades, required to build new gas terminals and source local deposits, meaning immediate price pressures will not be resolved, according to a Carbon Tracker blog post. "I don't see governments realistically removing those obstacles," he explained, referring to an unavoidable public backlash.īut for UK-based climate think tank Carbon Tracker, the argument that Europe could limit its dependence on Russian gas by diversifying into local "bridging" fossil fuel sources, and importing liquified natural gas, also known as LNG, from the US and elsewhere, is neither realistic nor cost-effective. While he is confident that renewables can be scaled up in the medium term, especially offshore wind, he says political resistance to large-scale wind farm sites, for instance, will hold back significant expansion in the more immediate future. "In the short-term, the only real option is to diversify," said David Victor, a professor of innovation and public policy at the School of Global Policy and Strategy at the University of California San Diego. While the plan focuses partly on decarbonization through greater renewable uptake, it also demands greater gas diversification - and proposes temporarily delaying the shutdown of five nuclear reactors in Europe. This split was evident in the International Energy Agency's detailed 10-point plan, released on Thursday, to reduce EU reliance on Russian natural gas by next winter. The question of energy independence remains divided between two camps: should self-sufficiency come from other local or "friendly" gas, or even nuclear sources, meaning diversification or through more ambitious energy independence achieved via local clean energy supplies such as wind and solar, which is to say decarbonization? The release of a damning IPCC climate report on Monday gave further incentive to bring forward the clean energy transition.īut do we have the means to fast-track renewables expansion? Noting that 40% of Russia's federal budget comes from oil and gas - which also comprise 60% of Russian exports - the coalition has called for "bold steps towards the radical decarbonization of our societies." "Putin has deliberately weaponized fossil gas to increase his existing energy dominance over the European Union," stated the coalition when publishing a letter Friday to "end global fossil fuel addiction." They added that gas and oil were employed by Putin "to fuel terror with escalating violence, underscoring the fossil fuel system's role in driving conflict." To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video It went one step further by calling on world governments to end fossil fuel production - and to "manage the transition to a clean and safe renewable energy in a way that is fast and fair." In response, the Stand with Ukraine coalition, comprising hundreds of organizations worldwide including environmental groups Greenpeace and 350.org, has called for a ban on Russian energy imports. The percentage was higher but Russia has been reducing its piped gas supplies to Europe since last year, noted the International Energy Agency in a recent report. Reliant to the tune $700 million (€640 million) a day, according to some estimates. Yet, at the moment, Germany is reliant on Russia for both oil and at least 50% of its gas. "The faster we push ahead with the expansion of renewable energies, the better," Scholz said a few days after the invasion. German Finance Minister Christian Lindner, of the neoliberal FDP, now calls renewables "freedom energies," while Chancellor Olaf Scholz labels them "crucial for our security." But since Ukraine was invaded, Europe's dependence on Russian gas has inspired a sudden push for energy independence, especially via renewables. Europe has been pushing gas and nuclear as an essential part of the energy transition from carbon-heavy fossil fuels like oil and coal.
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