EU: duurzame energiebeleid op lager pitje

Gezond verstand keert terug.

Zoals ik gisteren reeds aankondigde is de Europese Commissie bezig met een herziening van het duurzame energiebeleid. Nog maar enkele jaren geleden beweerde de EU klimaatcommissaris Conny Hedegaard, dat decarbonisering een krachtige impuls voor de Europese economie zou kunnen opleveren. Onder de titel, 'Connie Hedegaard insists tougher carbon targets will boost European economy', schreef Fiona Harvey daarover destijds in 'The Guardian':

EU climate commissioner says there is 'debate' – but no row – over raising the carbon targets to a 30% cut by 2020

Europe's climate chief insisted on Monday that tougher greenhouse gas targets would improve the EU's economic performance, rather than push businesses overseas, as companies and green campaigners tussled over whether current emissions goals were too weak.

Connie Hedegaard, EU commissioner for climate change, told the Guardian: "It's very important that everyone understands that to produce more does not mean you have to emit more. That was 20th century business, this is the 21st-century model."

Lees verder hier.

Maar niet iedereen begrijpt dat. Dat is ook logisch want de feiten vertellen een heel ander verhaal. Dat is de reden dat Hedegaard en haar collega die verantwoordelijk is voor milieu, Janez Poto?nik, geïsoleerd staan binnen de Europese Commissie, die thans een beleidsverandering inzake duurzame energie voorbereid.

Onder de titel, 'EU retreats on global warming while US pushes ahead', raporteert Michael Bastasch
daarover op de Daily Caller:

The European Union is on the verge of rolling back much of its climate agenda, even as the United States is moving full speed ahead.

Europe will likely not require member states to expand renewable energy production beyond 2020, reports the German-based EU-Info News.

“It is becoming obvious that Europe’s unilateral climate policy, the whole green agenda of the last 20 years, has turned into an unmitigated fiasco,” Dr. Benny Peiser, director of the UK-based Global Warming Policy Foundation, told The Daily Caller News Foundation. “Even EU leaders are beginning to accept reality.”

The EU’s climate chief Connie Connie Hedegaard and EU environment commissioner Janez Potocnik remain “isolated in their push for a new target to promote green energy,” according to EU-Info News. Not even Germany’s energy commissioner Günther Oettinger supports expanding renewable energy production.

The European experience with renewable energy has been fraught with high costs and mixed results. In Germany, renewable energy policies are driving up electricity costs, leading one of the country’s foremost newspapers to declare that electricity had become a “luxury good”.

The country was attempting to get 25 percent of its power from renewables by 2050, but skyrocketing power prices have forced Germany to rethink its renewables goals. German consumers already pay the highest power prices in Europe, according to Der Spiegel, and generous renewable energy subsidies cost them about $26 billion in taxes last year.

“The promotion of green electricity costs will cost our citizens ($32.5 billion) next year, which is a lot of money that could otherwise be spent on buying new cars, furniture or on restaurant visits,” said Michael Fuchs, deputy leader of the Christian Democratic Union.

Not only Germans are demanding renewable energy reform, but EU businesses as well. The EU wants to generate 20 percent of its power from renewables by 2020 to fight global warming. But top EU business leaders are saying that renewable energy subsidies are raising power costs and putting the continent at risk for blackouts.

“We’ve failed on all accounts: Europe is threatened by a blackout like in New York a few years ago, prices are shooting up higher, and our carbon emissions keep increasing,” said GDF Suez CEO Gérard Mestrallet. ...

EU-Info News reports that “the EU Commission is far removed from the European Parliament. Two committees are promoting three binding climate targets for 2030: 40 percent for CO2 emissions reduction and for improving energy efficiency, and 30 percent for renewable energy.” Though many EU countries reject the idea of Brussels-imposed climate targets.

“The old guard of green EU commissioners, however, are trying to salvage their green legacy before they leave office in the autumn,” Peiser said. “These green bureaucrats will be replaced later this year by a new set of commissioners who almost certainly will be less green and more concerned about Europe’s economic future and competitiveness.”

“The chances of the green lobby to push through any new binding renewables or climate targets are near zero,” he added.

Lees verder hier.

Laten we hopen dat Benny Peiser gelijk krijgt.

Maar de huidige beleidsvoornemens zijn wat mij betreft slechts een eerste stap. Ook die andere decarboniseringsdoelstellingen zouden m.i. van tafel moeten. Het is 'all pain and no gain', want het effect van dat alles op het klimaat is onmeetbaar.

Achteraf gezien is het verbazingwekkend dat een groene ideologische doordramster als Conny Hedegaard er in is geslaagd de hele Europese Unie zo lang in haar ban te houden. Hiermee heeft zij de Europese gemeenschap onmetelijke schade berokkend. Dat krijg je er nu van als je ideologisch bevlogen lieden zonder voldoende geestelijke bagage op verantwoordelijke posities benoemd.

Voor mijn eerdere DDS–bijdragen zie hier.