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Publish date: October 30, 2008
News
Several speakers concurred that it was important to create an efficient transmission grid which would help transmit renewable energy among the different European countries. The wind does not blow all the time, but it generally blows somewhere. Mr Magnette, taking as an example his own country Belgium, underlined the need for countries with too small potential for renewable energy to invest in other European countries’ green energy potential.
“Norway is probably the European country with the largest potential to export renewable electricity given the large potential for offshore wind in its exclusive economic zone. Building a grid in the North Sea is necessary to realise that potential. The minister’s remarks reflect an increasing call for the EU to take the lead in financing the infrastructure needed for a renewable society,” said Eivind Hoff of Bellona Europa.
The Belgian minister insisted that the European Union contribute large funds as soon as possible to finance this project. According to him, the market forces will not incentivise companies to build interconnectors fast enough, yet the need to add more renewable energy to the grid is now, not in twenty years.
Mr Magnette pointed out that massive EU funds were allocated to nuclear energy. If a share of those funds were reallocated to renewable energy, huge progress could be made.
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.