The announcement of increased use of coal in Germany, Austria and the Netherlands has raised concerns among the European Commission and environmental organizations, which point to the risk of a derailment of the climate ambitions of the EU.
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“The risk is to substitute one addiction for another”
"
We must ensure that we take advantage of this crisis to move forward
" in the energy transition, "
without going back to polluting fossil fuels
", said the head of the European executive, Ursula von der Leyen , in an interview with several European media published on Tuesday.
"
The balance is delicate to find, it is not written that we will take the right direction
," she warned.
The Netherlands decided on Monday to completely lift restrictions on coal-fired electricity production, while Berlin and Vienna announced on Sunday that they would use it more, to compensate for the drop in Russian gas deliveries to Europe.
"
This is a bad option, the consequence of a decade of delay and neglect, states have continued to bet on fossil fuels rather than investing enough in renewables
”, observes Neil Makaroff, from Réseau Action Climat (RAC) , a federation of environmental NGOs.
“
The risk is to substitute one dependency for another, to import Colombian or Australian coal, American or Qatari liquefied natural gas, to replace Russian hydrocarbons
,” he explained to AFP, worrying that "
these short-term setbacks become structural setbacks
".
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“It must remain as temporary as possible”
“
It is concerning, even if it is not about new investments in coal but rather about reopening or using more existing plants.
This must remain as temporary as possible
”, abounds Sam Van den Plas, of the NGO Carbon Market Watch.
"
The challenge is how these countries will remain able to meet their coal phase-out plans
" and their CO2 emissions reduction trajectory, because "
if there are more emissions from burning coal, other industries will have to further reduce theirs
,” he insists.
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Above all, he notes, this “
coal solution
” should not encourage us to ease off on “
investment in renewables, storage, energy efficiency, demand reduction
”.
“
Wanting coal to save us from a crisis caused mainly by fossil fuels is like banging your head against a wall to cure a migraine
,” said Mark Breddy, communications manager for Greenpeace Europe.
According to him, the priority must be to drastically reduce electricity needs, because “
huge quantities of energy are wasted, from industry to agriculture, from transport to
poorly insulated housing”.