Countries Wage War Over Clean Energy Subsidies

On one side of the Atlantic: the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), on the other side: the Green New Deal. The gloves are off, but can the subsidy money be as enormous as indicated without massively stoking inflation? Besides, what possible climate benefit does anyone think they might see?
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Journalists are calling it a subsidy war, says OilPrice.com.

Those involved in it are keen to preserve an image of cooperation and agreement. Whatever you call it, it’s hard to deny the obvious: the United States and Europe are locked in a race—a subsidy race for the energy transition.

When Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act last summer, many companies had reason to celebrate: they were going to get generous financial support to build or expand their businesses as long as they fell into any “sustainable” category.

The mood was different in Europe. There, business leaders had reason to start worrying about one more thing: the increased competitiveness of U.S. goods thanks to the IRA and the consequent reduced competitiveness of their own goods.

EU calls for global talks on climate geoengineering risks

[image credit: latinoamericarenovable.com]

Another attempt to keep manufactured climate alarm in the news. Toytown CO2 capture gets a mention as part of the mythical ‘fight’ against global warming.
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The European Commission on Wednesday (28 June) called for international talks on the dangers and governance of geoengineering, saying such interventions to alter the climate posed “unacceptable” risks, reports Euractiv.

The European Commission on Wednesday (28 June) called for international talks on the dangers and governance of geoengineering, saying such interventions to alter the climate posed “unacceptable” risks.

Geoengineering has attracted increasing interest as countries fail to cut greenhouse gas emissions fast enough to curb climate change. But the issue of manipulating planetary systems to fight global warming remains highly controversial.

Iveco CEO says Euro 7 vehicle emissions regulation is ‘plain stupid’

European Commission HQ, Brussels [image credit: Em_Dee @ Wikipedia]

The motor industry gets sandwiched between climate obsession and clean air fanaticism.
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The CEO of Italian truck and bus maker Iveco has condemned as “plain stupid” the Euro 7 standards which tighten vehicle emission limits for pollutants including nitrogen oxides and carbon monoxide in the European Union from 2025, reports Euractiv.

Iveco Group’s Gerrit Marx said the regulation as currently drafted by the EU required cuts in emissions of nitrogen oxides and particulates which are “technically unfeasible”.

“The effort to get there is huge. And there is no real payback,” he said.

EU countries and lawmakers are due to negotiate the proposed legislation, which is designed to apply to cars and vans from July 1, 2025 and to buses and trucks two years later, this year.

One in Five Germans Fear Green Agenda Will Destroy Their Jobs

Image credit: autocarbrands.com

Needless to say, high energy prices and job insecurity isn’t what workers wanted in exchange for obscure future benefits. But the country’s Green Party says in effect ‘like it or lump it’. Welcome to the effects of manic climate obsessions.
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A survey done by the German Trade Union Confederation has reportedly found that one in five employees now fear for the future of their jobs as a result of the country’s push for green agenda measures aimed at curbing climate change, says Breitbart.

It is the latest piece of evidence showing how the European Union’s leading economy is struggling with its own carbon emission goals, with the price of energy soaring over last year as renewable energy sources are unable to fill the hole left by missing Russian gas and deliberately scrapped nuclear energy.

The surging price of electricity and home heating is not all that Germans are worrying about, though, with a report by Die Welt claiming that around 20 per cent of the German workforce now feel the country’s green push could endanger their employment.

Italy’s Transport Minister Asks EU To Stop ICE Vehicle Ban

Political climate obsession has gone way too far with EV ‘mandates’, as the Italian minister implies. Today’s EVs are too expensive and impractical to be a suitable future for private transport.
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Italy’s Transport Minister Matteo Salvini has asked the EU Commission’s Transport Commissioner and his French and German counterparts to review the ban on ICE vehicle sales that is set to go into effect in 2035, reports OilPrice.com.

Salvini told Italian news outlet Ultimore that the proposed ban on the sale of fossil fuel-burning vehicles “makes no economic, environmental or social sense.”

Salvini’s stance on the ICE vehicle sales ban echoes that of carmakers and the European car industry association, ACEA, in the summer of 2021.

France to pay up to €500m for falling short of renewable energy targets

St. Nazaire wind farm

Move over, carbon credits. Here come ‘statistical megawatts’.

H/T Tallbloke
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France is the only one of the 27 EU member states to have missed its objective for 2020, when renewable energy represented 19.1% of its consumption, below the 23% target, says Le Monde.

For failing to reach its European targets for renewable energy in 2020, which it had set itself a decade earlier, the French state will have to pay out several hundred million euros.

“It will cost France €500 million this year for not having met its target for renewable energy,” the Minister for Energy Transition told MPs on Monday, November 21, as reported by the French daily newspaper Libération.

Gas drilling projects resurrected around Europe, ignoring EU ‘advice’

Hands up if you want to risk your country running out of energy supplies! Oh…no takers. But…climate crisis…emissions…blah blah? Not now please, we’re too busy with more urgent matters – like power for next winter.
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While the European Commission has shared three main ways to reduce Russian energy dependency – energy savings, renewables and diversification – many countries opted for their methods, including the revival of fossil fuel projects, says Euractiv.

Commission President Ursula von der Leyen recently warned EU member states not to backtrack on their long-term drive to cut fossil fuel use as a handful of nations turned to coal following a decision by Russia to limit their gas supplies.

Other countries decided to speed up or expand gas drilling initiatives, and some U-turned on previous decisions against drilling.

EU climate chief talks up hypothetical ‘green’ hydrogen

Credit: wheels.ca

Good luck with the costs and the leakage losses from shipping. Only last month the same source reported a study saying Germany’s global hydrogen plans could accelerate climate change. The study said ‘In the worst-case scenario, hydrogen could even prove 16 times more harmful than the widespread greenhouse gas.’ The EU obviously isn’t bothered by that study, or one by the British government warning of 13% leakage losses from tanker transport of hydrogen. ‘The 75-page report, Atmospheric Implications of Increased Hydrogen Use, explains that H2 is an indirect greenhouse gas, which reacts with other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere to increase their global warming potential (GWP)’. What real world problem do they think they’re trying to solve? Looks like yet another trip to cloud cuckoo land.
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Hydrogen will be essential for Europe’s future economy, particularly to store and transport green energy, EU climate chief Frans Timmermans told the European Parliament on Thursday (28 April) — Euractiv reporting.

“I strongly believe in green hydrogen as the driving force of our energy system of the future,” said Timmermans in a meeting with the environment committee.

“Hydrogen is going to be a pivotal element in our economy of the future,” he added in a discussion that covered the impact of the war in Ukraine, the state of play with Europe’s new climate legislation and food security.

EU officials being trained to meditate to help fight climate crisis

Money to burn?

Take a deep breath…Sometimes there’s not much difference between a satirical spoof and a climate ‘crisis’ article.
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Exclusive: Early results from ‘applied mindfulness’ courses suggests they have helped overcome despair that little can be done, says The Guardian.

Brussels officials are being trained to meditate to help them tackle the climate crisis as part of a new wave of “applied mindfulness” that seeks to take the Buddhism-inspired practice “off the cushion” and into hard politics.

EU in cloud cuckoo land: selects 100 cities for goal of ‘climate neutrality’ by 2030

[image credit: latinoamericarenovable.com]

Climate neutrality is an imaginary goal. In reality it doesn’t exist but the phrase serves as a peg to hang an EU publicity gimmick on, as they try to imply it can make people healthier — among other dubious assertions.
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One hundred European cities have been selected to participate in an EU programme to rapidly cut emissions in urban areas, with the aim of reaching climate neutrality by 2030, says Euractiv.

Cities drawn from each member state will participate in the scheme, representing some 12% of the EU population.

A further 12 cities from outside of the bloc will take part.

The EU will invest €360 million to aid cities in their greening mission in 2022 and 2023, which it is hoped will spur further investments from the private sector.

Ireland’s climate targets problem: livestock numbers need to be reduced, say analysts

Irish farm [image credit: climatenewsnetwork.net]

Yet another climate folly induced by arbitrary targets. As usual they conveniently forget that most of their so-called ‘greenhouse’ gas is water vapour, which depends on the temperature. There’s so little methane in the atmosphere it has to be measured in parts per billion, but alarmism has taken over.
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In order for legally binding climate targets to be met, and agricultural subsidies to be granted, the number of livestock on the island needs to go down says Buzz.

The size of herds both North and South of the border is being scrutinised. It is likely both cow and sheep herds on both sides of the border will need to be cut – and soon.

Brussels takes legal action against UK over use of British parts in wind farms

Offshore wind farm [image credit: Wikipedia]

Will Brexit bitterness ever die? Renewables are now mired in international politics.
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Brussels has launched a legal challenge over the use of British parts in the UK’s offshore wind farms, reports the Telegraph.

The European Commission submitted its complaint to the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the first such move it has made since Brexit.

The UK Government asks offshore wind farm developers to say how many of the parts they are using are from Britain.

EU unveils plan to end reliance on Russian gas

A roadmap to cut imports of Russian gas by two thirds in a year – but they’ll need somewhere else’s gas, whether from fracking or not, plus some coal, instead. Gas storage is to be greatly increased. But how exactly they plan to ‘ramp up’ hydrogen production, and at what cost, remains to be seen. Climate obsessions will have to be shelved for a while.
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The European Commission has outlined a new energy roadmap designed to cut reliance on Russian gas by two thirds in just a year, reports BBC News.

The plan envisages ending reliance on all Russian fossil fuels “well before” 2030.

In the short term, gas should be sourced from the US and Africa while some countries may need to use more coal in the months ahead.

Ukraine: The Guardian seizes another chance to press for less fossil fuels

Germany’s main gas supplier: Russia

Headline: ‘Is Putin’s Ukraine invasion about fossil fuels?’ asks The Guardian. Then says ‘no’, but raises its usual climate alarm topic anyway.
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The continent has grown over-reliant on Russian gas – but Putin knows he is vulnerable to Europe cleaning up its energy sector.
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Is this really another war over fossil fuels?

No. Energy resources are not the focus of this threatened conflict.

Vladimir Putin has a long history of territorial ambitions in former Soviet nations, which he made explicit this week, and of attempts to exert political control over Ukraine.

Putin is said by supporters to be concerned over the possibility of Nato expansion, although many analysts say this is a pretext.

The EU must give green light to nuclear and gas or face disaster – Net Zero Watch

Sawing off the branch of the tree you’re sitting on seems an unlikely sort of energy policy. However, it’s now the approach being pursued in much of Europe and elsewhere due to an obsession with the output of failing climate models.
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London, 22 December – Net Zero Watch has warned EU leaders to reject last ditch attempts by campaigners to prevent the EU’s planned green taxonomy for gas and nuclear energy or face a political and economic disaster.

Despite Europe facing its worst energy crisis since the Second World War, campaigners are trying to prevent the EU from easing and encouraging the investment in desperately needed new natural gas and nuclear power plants and infrastructure, says Net Zero Watch.

Both low-carbon energy sources are included in the EU Commission’s proposed “taxonomy for sustainable activities” which is reported to be tabled at the end of the year.

EU countries struggle to agree approach to COP26 climate talks

EU countries can’t agree their best rate of economic decline due to expensive and damaging so-called climate policies that won’t have any measurable effect of the type they seek. Have they considered the possibility that there is no such rate?
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European Union countries are struggling to agree their negotiating position for the COP26 climate change conference, with rifts emerging over timeframes for emissions-cutting pledges, according to officials and documents seen by Reuters, says Euractiv.

The EU is drafting its position ahead of the November COP26 talks, where countries will attempt to finish the technical rules to put the Paris Agreement into effect.

One issue they will try to settle is whether countries’ climate targets under the 2015 accord should follow a “common timeframe”.

Critics warn carbon price proposal would exacerbate energy poverty

No surprise that cranking up the cost of essentials is a greater burden for people on low incomes than for others. But nothing can be allowed to stand in the way of overblown climate obsessions, it seems. Carbon dioxide must be demonised no matter how tenuous the evidence against its tiny 0.04% share of the atmosphere, much of which pre-dates the modern era anyway.
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Energy poverty could be exacerbated ad prices rise under the European Commission’s proposed revamped emissions trading scheme, the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) has warned, with other stakeholders raising similar misgivings.

Proposals under the European Commission’s Fit for 55 package include creating a new emissions trading scheme to impose a carbon price on road transport and buildings (ETS II), says Euractiv.

But stakeholders are warning that the move would hit society’s most vulnerable.

Carbon border tax: Europe’s climate fortress endangers Germany’s strength, say press critics

Pointless EU climate ideology is going in the opposite direction to its economic success. Protectionist barriers tend to annoy the victims, with unknown but likely repercussions. Any idea that harmless carbon dioxide is ‘dirty’ is a bad joke, but makes endless work for meddling bureaucrats.
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The EU wants to impose a carbon border tax on Europe’s borders and thus protect domestic producers from dirtier (sic) producers from abroad, says Die Welt (via The GWPF).

Experts warn of a loophole that could hit German exporters seriously.

Federal Minister of Economics Peter Altmaier met two Vice-Presidents of the European Commission when he visited Brussels on Friday: Margrethe Vestager, who is responsible for digital, and Valdis Dombrovskis, who is responsible for economic issues.

The CDU politician wanted to talk to both of them about the steel industry – and about how European steel producers can economically survive the tightening of EU climate targets.

The plans for a CO2 border adjustment tax are also likely to have been an issue. Because the work of the Commission on legislative proposals for such a CO2 surcharge at the borders of the EU are ready to go.

The Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, which in Brussels is affectionately known as CBAM for short, aims to make imported products that are produced less climate-friendly overseas than in Europe more expensive at the borders of the EU.

This climate protection wall around the continent is intended to ensure that European producers with their higher energy costs and stricter environmental regulations remain competitive on their home market.

Full article here.

EU leaders brace for clash over astronomical cost of Net Zero plans

‘All pain for no gain’ springs to mind. Will voters accept this pointless self-harm to their economic welfare indefinitely, or turn against it?
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As the astronomical cost of Net Zero plans are becoming more evident by the day, EU leaders face the prospect of growing discontent and revolt over the relentless rise in energy prices and consumer pain, say The GWPF & FT.

After years of assuring voters that renewable energy will make energy cheaper and Europeans better off, EU leaders are now forced to concede that these plans will actually hurt consumers very badly.

The EU Commission is proposing a series of far-reaching measures that will drive up the cost of running a car and heating homes.

If it goes ahead, households will have to shoulder not only rising energy costs, but also the rising cost of Europe’s record carbon price in their heating bills and fuel pump prices.

EU project wants ‘Lifestyle changes to keep the world from warming up’

Money to burn?

The supposed model citizen of the future will have a prescribed minimalist lifestyle pattern to follow, using as few resources as possible and generally living small under various restrictions not seen today, if this kind of thinking – backed by EU finance – is anything to go by. All to be determined with the aid of ‘citizen thinking labs’.
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Scientists widely agree that we must limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius to avoid catastrophic climate impacts, claims Phys.org. [Talkshop comment – ignoring all the scientists that disagree with human-caused warming theories].

Environmental scientist Laura Scherer investigates how we should change lifestyles to achieve this temperature goal.

Her research is part of the 4.8-million-euro Horizon 2020 project EU 1.5° Lifestyles.