To protect Europe from Russian gas coercion, the U.S. should take the unorthodox step of investing in European gas infrastructure, write Gabriel Collins and Anna Mikulska of the Baker Institute’s Center for Energy Studies. Such a "geoeconomics-based strategy" would help blunt and deflect the Kremlin’s gas wedge. … [Read more...]
Fracking may have political support, it still needs a ‘social licence’
The UK government may be convinced that shale gas production is important to the country, it will need to convince the public too. Experience in Eastern Europe has shown that without a “social licence”, fracking will not get off the ground, writes Andreas Goldthau, Director of the Centre of International Public Policy in London and author of a new book on the politics of shale gas. … [Read more...]
New Gas Market Directive will change balance of power between EU and Member States
The European Commission has proposed amendments to the Gas Market Directive essentially to acquire control over Nord Stream 2. But once they are approved, the EU will have much more authority over Member States’ overall security of energy supply than it has now, warns Bent Ole Gram Mortensen of the University of Southern Denmark. According to Mortensen, there is no need for such far-reaching legislation: if Gazprom were to abuse its market … [Read more...]
Tackling climate change in Poland: 40% fewer emissions, $26 billion annual savings by 2050
Poland must choose whether it wants to continue pouring money into an unprofitable and polluting industry, shift to (mostly Russian) natural gas or embrace clean technology that improves energy security and saves money and lives, write Jeffrey Rissman and Robbie Orvis of Energy Innovation. This US-based think tank partnered with the Polish National Energy Conservation Agency (KAPE) and European Climate Foundation (ECF) to develop a tool to help … [Read more...]
Poland’s love affair with coal: can the EU do anything about it?
The Polish government’s strong commitment to coal goes against EU policy direction and against market conditions, write Anna Mikulska of the Baker Institute’s Center for Energy Studies and Eryk Kosinski of Adam Mickiewicz University. But coal has a special place in the nation’s collective heart. To wean Poland off coal will require EU support to coal-dependent regions and for alternative energy sources, the authors argue. … [Read more...]
Can the U.S. break Russia’s gas monopoly In Europe?
The U.S. government has said it considers "sending energy supplies" to Eastern Europe to contain Russian influence. But challenging Russia’s dominance in European gas markets won't be easy, writes Tim Daiss of Oilprice.com. Russia already supplies nearly 40 percent of the continent’s gas, and its position may further be secured when the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline is completed. … [Read more...]
Southeast Europe needs more nuclear power to head off energy crisis
Southeast Europe is headed for an energy crisis. The region has an energy infrastructure that is unreliable, inefficient, and unsustainable, while at the same time it is faced with the need to reduce dependence on external sources and conform to EU climate and air quality regulations. The best way out, argues Tim Yeo, Chairman of the New Nuclear Watch Institute, is to invest in new nuclear capacity. … [Read more...]
As the energy potential of the Eastern Mediterranean grows, so does the potential for conflict
The United States and the European Union should play a more proactive role in defusing the growing tensions over energy resources in the Eastern Mediterranean, writes David Koranyi of the Atlantic Council Global Energy Institute. … [Read more...]
What’s behind Gazprom’s decision to cut off supply to Ukraine
Gazprom’s announcement that it would terminate gas supply to Ukraine has been a shock to many observers, but it is not as radical nor as surprising as it may seem, writes Anna Mikulska of the Center for Energy Studies at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy. It will only become effective in 2019 and is consistent with the company’s earlier announcements and long-term plans. Nevertheless, Mikulska adds, there is reason for the EU to … [Read more...]
A grand bargain with Gazprom?
Can Europe, including the Eastern part, continue to profit from cheap Russian gas without succumbing to Russian energy dominance? According to a new paper from the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies (OIES), the EU should not shy away from “countervailing measures”. But these should preferably take the form of a “grand bargain” with Russia rather than a confrontation. … [Read more...]
Gazprom’s toughest competitors may be from… Russia
Much of Gazprom’s future prosperity depends on whether it can defend its position domestically, writes Anna Mikulska of the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the University of Pennsylvania and the Baker Institute’s Center for Energy Studies. Companies such as Russian Rosneft and Novatek have pushed for some time to weaken the company's export monopoly. … [Read more...]
The EU wants to fight climate change – so why is it spending billions on a gas pipeline?
By funding the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), the European Investment Bank (EIB) is hardly signalling to the private sector that governments are committed to a green energy transition, writes Aled Jones, Professor and Director at the Global Sustainability Institute of Anglia Ruskin University. Article courtesy The Conversation. … [Read more...]
A step backwards – European Member states threaten to reverse progress on the Single Electricity Market
The European Council’s proposals on the internal energy market fundamentally weaken the framework that is needed to deliver an integrated market that will benefit European energy consumers, write Philip Baker and Christos Kolokathis from the global energy policy advisors Regulatory Assistance Project (RAP). They may even legalise practices that are currently – and should remain – illegal. The authors call on European policymakers to support the … [Read more...]
Europe’s biggest fossil fuel project gets €1.5bn public loan
The European Investment Bank has approved a loan to the Southern Gas Corridor, in a move environmentalists described as a “historical mistake”, writes Karl Mathiesen of Climate Home News. The move brings the total public backing for Europe's biggest fossil fuel project to $3.5 billion. Courtesy Climate Home News. … [Read more...]
French people support energy transition (more than nuclear power)
France is at a crossroads, writes Jules Hebert, program coordinator at the Heinrich Böll Foundation office in Paris. It can pursue a renewed nuclear model – or follow the German example and invest massively in renewable energy. It is often said that the French people support the nuclear path, notes Hebert – but a recent survey comes to a different conclusion. Article courtesy Energy Transition/Global Energiewende. … [Read more...]
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