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Publish date: October 10, 2007
Written by: Eivind Hoff
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Matthias Ruete, Director General of the Commission’s Transport and Energy department (DG TREN) said in an interview that CO2 free energy generation had “three legs – those being renewable energy sources, carbon capture and storage (CCS) and nuclear power, the EurActive website quoted him as saying.
Last week saw also three commissioners, including European Commision President José Manuel Barroso, publicly open the door for using nuclear energy to achieve the EU’s objectives of reducing both greenhouse gas emissions and reliance on foreign energy suppliers such as Russia.
“This is a step in the wrong direction in the combat against climate change,” said nuclear physicist Nils Bøhmer of Bellona.
“Instead of creating more nuclear waste, the Commission should focus on energy efficiency and renewable energy sources.”
Along with his troubling remarks regarding nuclear power, Ruete did confirm the EC’s support for CCS and plans to make it commercially viable.
“We need to make sure we have a good framework in terms of state aid and public finance. It is clear that a strong push from the public side is needed in terms of financing CCS.” he told EurActiv, adding that "we need to see whether member states are actually putting their money where their mouth is."
What these statements of senior EC officials actually mean will become clearer when its “Strategic Energy Technology Plan” is presented on November 20th. The plan is expected to set out the Commission’s proposals for what energy technologies the EU should promote and how it should be done.
The overall objectives of the plan will be to, lower the current cost of renewable energy, facilitate the efficient use of energy, and place European industries in a leading position in the use of low-carbon technologies.
“Deveploping more nuclear power plants will produce more nuclear waste for the coming generation and it will increase the risks of a nuclear accident happening in Europe,” said Bøhmer.
Recent attacks on Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant "mark the beginning of a new and gravely dangerous front of the war," the UN atomic agency's director general said last week.
After years of inaction, Germany is working on its Carbon Management Strategy to resolve how CCS can play a role in climate action in industry. At the end of February, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action published first key points and a proposal to amend the law Kohlenstoffdioxid Speicherungsgesetz (KSpG). Bellona Deutschland, who was actively involved in the previous stakeholder dialogue submitted a statement in the association hearing.
In the midst of a global discussion on whether natural gas should be used as a transitional fuel and whether emissions from its extraction, production, transport and use are significantly less than those from other fossil fuels, Russia has developed ambitious plans to increase its own production of liquified natural gas (LNG) in the Arctic – a region with 75% of proven gas reserves in Russia – to raise its share in the international gas trade.
In this news digest, we monitor events that impact the environment in the Russian Arctic. Our main focus lies in identifying the factors that contribute to pollution risks and climate change.