When the new German government was installed last year, it was hailed (mainly by itself) to be the “greenest” government ever. However, in the last week, Germany has looked to fire up coal — the “dirtiest” of the fossil fuels — plants and now is looking to influence the so-called Group of Seven (G7) nations into walking back a pledge to halt a commitment to stop the financing of overseas fossil fuel projects by the end of 2022.
It’s amazing what a little adversity can do to a movement that’s intended to save the world from itself. G7 leaders will discuss this and other issues at a summit in the Bavarian Alps this week.
In this case, the adversity faced by these wannabe green nations is Vladimir Putin’s Russia and his nation’s war with neighbor and European Union candidate Ukraine.
Earlier last week, Germany’s left-wing government announced that, at least temporarily, the nation would have to turn to that dirtiest of fossil fuels — coal — to help power their nation after Russia announced that it was cutting natural-gas supplies delivered to Germany through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline due to technical problems.
Once Russia announced they were cutting natural-gas shipments to Germany, German Federal Economics and Climate Protection Minister Robert Habeck made the sad announcement.
“We are setting up a gas replacement reserve on demand. And I can already say: We will call off the gas replacement reserve as soon as the law comes into force. That means, to be honest, more coal-fired power plants for a transitional period. That’s bitter, but in this situation it’s almost necessary to reduce gas consumption,” Habeck said.
In addition to burning more coal to keep the nation powered, a draft proposal obtained by Bloomberg seeks to have the G7 “acknowledge that publicly supported investment in the gas sector is necessary as a temporary response to the current energy crisis.”
Thus far, the United Kingdom reportedly has come out strongly against the proposal. Italy, another nation highly dependent on Russian natural gas, is said to be considering the German proposal.
The United States delegation was noncommittal, but National Security Council spokesman John Kirby was not aware of any changes to the United States’ previous objections to such investments. “Our position last May was that the president was clear that he did not feel like these investments were the right course of action,” Kirby said on Air Force One. “I know of no such change to that policy.”
Germany, with all their pretensions of being the “greenest” democracy on the planet, is sounding the alarm of a coming apocalyptic collapse of the global energy markets with Russia’s decision to limit the natural-gas supply, which it claims is due to technical problems.
Habeck referred to the possibility of a “Lehman effect” in the energy sector — a dire warning considering Lehman Brothers’ bankruptcy was one of the main triggers of the 2007-08 financial crisis.
“If this minus gets so big that they can’t carry it anymore, the whole market is in danger of collapsing at some point,” Habeck said. “So a Lehman effect in the energy system.”
Germany and Italy are especially dependent upon Russian natural gas, although the Italians have shifted some of their suppliers to African nations such as Congo, Algeria, and Angola. The Italians claim they are closely monitoring the situation to see if they need to trigger any emergency energy plans, which would likely see more coal being used in that country as well.
It’s a sticky situation for new German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Climate groups worry that if the German proposal is adopted it might signal a metaphorical U-turn in global efforts to combat climate change.
“I am very concerned that the summit will not ultimately bring together the two major challenges, namely independence from Russia’s fossil fuels and, on the other hand, providing an adequate response to the climate crisis,” said Martin Kaiser, executive director of Greenpeace Germany. “What is currently being discussed by Olaf Scholz and the other heads of state and government is rather an expansion of the fossil infrastructure, especially with regard to gas, but not the necessary entry into energy savings and renewable energies.”
It’s a dicey situation for climate hysterics. If Germany — the “greenest” government ever — is successful in flipping last year’s G7 commitment to not fund global fossil fuel projects, even temporarily, the “science” may need to add another few years to their apocalyptic climate visions.
