News
Publish date: June 25, 2014
News
With Russia’s annexation of Crimea we have seen energy security being pushed up the EU’s political agenda as the 28 Member States deliberate on a plan to reduce reliance on natural gas from the Moscow-controlled OAO Gazprom. Simultaneously, the Member States plan to finalise the 2030 Climate and Energy Package by October 2014, laying out targets that include reducing emissions by 40% by 2030 from 1990 levels.
Poland, which relies on coal for more than 80% of its electricity and power generation, has suggested that the EU proceed at a slower pace with regards to climate change mitigation measures. In the opinion of Pawel Smolen, president of EURACOAL “de-carbonisaton means de-electrification, which is impossible”. Davey rightly recognises this to be incorrect, and that an EU-wide solution to supporting CCS development in Poland or elsewhere is essential as part of a package to tackle coal emissions.
A report of the International Energy Agency (IEA) states that annual spending on low-carbon technologies and energy efficiency needs to double to about EUR 580 billion by 2020 from 2013 levels to keep temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius from pre-industrial levels. Moreover, according to the IEA, delayed CCS deployment would increase the cost of power sector decarbonisation globally by EUR 1 trillion through 2035 and result to lost sales of fossil-fuel producers. Therefore, Davey urges the early deployment of CCS in order to attain a low-carbon world by 2050 cost-effectively.
Throughout the past year, our mission at the Bellona Environmental Transparency Center has focused on two key, but intertwined issues—nuclear and radiation safety as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine drags on, and the worldwide influence of Rosatom, Russia’s state nuclear corporation, which itself is actively involved in the war and has participated in the occupation of a Ukrainian nuclear power plant.
At the beginning of the year, reports in the German and Russian press suggested an approximate 70% increase in uranium imports from Russia to Germany in 2024. But does this reflect broader European trends? It does not. Overall, imports of uranium and nuclear fuel from Russia to Western countries actually dropped sharply in 2024. Unlike the situation in Germany, this is already an established trend.
A Lingen, Germany plant could begin producing nuclear fuel in cooperation with a subsidiary of Rosatom, Russia's state nuclear corporation, which is directly involved in the war in Ukraine and occupying the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
In this news digest, we monitor events that impact the environment in the Russian Arctic. Our focus lies in identifying the factors that contribute to pollution and climate change.