The Paper's reporter Liu Hui intern Hou Danwei
After Russia announced a significant reduction in the volume of gas transmissions from the Nord Stream-1 gas pipeline, many European countries have turned their attention back to coal power generation. The EU said it had "taken urgent measures" to address the threat of insufficient natural gas supplies and warned "not to retreat to dirty fossil fuels".
According to the Financial Times (FT) reported on June 21, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands and other European countries have recently announced the relaxation of restrictions on coal power generation in response to the decline in Russian gas supply. In response, European Commission President von der Leyen warned member states not to "go back" to long-term efforts to cut fossil fuel use, but to continue to focus on large-scale investment in renewable energy.
"We must ensure that we use this crisis to move forward, not to go backwards towards dirty fossil fuels." Von der Leyen said in an interview with FT on the 21st, "There is only a line between the two, and it is not yet certain whether we will turn in the right direction." ”
Al Jazeera reported on June 21 that the shift to fossil fuels has severely undermined the EU's goal of achieving "carbon neutrality" by 2050, which is one of the cornerstones of von der Leyen's policy at the helm of the EU's executive branch.
Coal power generation is back in favor
Gazprom recently announced a 60 percent reduction in gas delivery from the Nord Stream-1 gas pipeline, raising concerns among EU officials that Russia could cut supplies further before the winter. In this context, many European countries have once again turned their attention to coal power generation.
Germany, Europe's largest economy and largest energy consumer, was the first to react. According to the US Consumer News and Business Channel (CNBC), German Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economic and Climate Action Harbek said on June 19 that Germany will respond to the reduction in Gazprom supply by allowing increased coal power generation, calling the move a "bitter" decision but "necessary" for reducing gas use and "the winter gas tanks must be filled, which is a top priority".
On June 21, Hubbeck again claimed that cutting gas supplies to Europe was Russia's "attack on us." Environmental groups are skeptical, even though Germany still claims to achieve the goal of "coal withdrawal" by 2030 as planned, al-Jazeera reported.
Austria also held an emergency meeting on the 19th to discuss the response to the energy supply crisis. Austrian Prime Minister Nahmer said the country has higher gas reserves than other European countries, but still decided to restart the Mehrach coal plant in Styria, allowing it to continue operating on coal fuel in an emergency, according to Eu eu news outlet Euractiv. The plant is the last coal plant in Austria, after being announced closed in April 2020.
On the 20th, the Netherlands followed germany and Austria in announcing the "return" of coal. Dutch Climate and Energy Minister Jetten said the Cabinet decided to immediately lift production restrictions on coal-fired power plants from 2002 to 2024, amending the law to allow coal plants to operate at up to 35 percent capacity, adding that the Netherlands "has made this decision with European colleagues in the last few days," according to FT, France's 24 TV report.
In addition, Bloomberg quoted sources familiar with the matter as saying that if Russia continues to restrict gas supply, Italy's emergency gas plan as early as or this week may involve the increase in production of the six coal power plants currently in operation in Italy.
According to FT, other EU countries are also expected to follow the pace of the above countries to restart coal power. EU countries are facing increasing economic pressure due to energy shortages. European gas benchmark prices have risen more than 50 percent over the past week, while euro zone gas prices have risen at least 6-fold from before COVID-19.
EU warns against 'going back'
Many countries have announced a new switch to coal power generation, which has caused many concerns. Neil Makaroff, from the NGO Climate Action Network, said a re-shift to fossil fuels was "a bad option" with structural consequences, Al Jazeera reported.
"The current risk is to replace one dependence with another: import coal from Colombia or Australia, LNG from the United States or Qatar to replace Russian hydrocarbon fuels." Makarov said. Carbon Market Watch similarly dismissed the shift to coal as "worrying" and said it hoped the shift would be "as temporary as possible."
Von der Leyen warned member states not to "go back" in long-term efforts to cut fossil fuel use, but to continue to focus on large-scale investments in renewable energy. She cited data that natural gas consumption in Europe fell by 9% in the first quarter of 2022 compared to the same period last year, and industry has been reducing the use of natural gas, in part because natural gas prices are close to record highs. She added that if consumers lower the heating temperature by 2°C, the consumption of natural gas can be drastically reduced.
Von der Leyen also said the EU has "urgent measures" to deal with the threat of declining energy supply in Russia, including energy-saving measures and "prioritizing" which sectors can access gas, and will make every effort so that the EU can say "we made the right choice" in the future.
Meanwhile, von der Leyen highlighted his recent visit to the eastern Mediterranean region, where the EU hopes That Israel, Cyprus and Egypt will eventually be able to supply additional LNG. She also mentioned that producers in Norway, Azerbaijan and other countries are increasing production to provide the EU with alternatives to Russian gas.
The FT article believes that the conflict between Russia and Ukraine has made the EU's plan to switch to renewable energy more urgent. On May 18, the European Union officially announced an energy plan called "REPowerEU", which totals about 300 billion euros (about 2,127 billion yuan), aiming to reduce dependence on Russia's energy in the next few years, diversify natural gas sources, and accelerate the transition to clean energy. Von der Leyen said the "REPowerEU" plan will increase investment in renewable energy and simplify regulations so that projects, including wind farms, can be built faster.
Editor-in-Charge: Hu Zhenqing Photo Editor: Li Jingyun
Proofreader: Ding Xiao