As sanctions on Russia continue to have little to no effect, Europe is turning back to coal in a move that must bring tears to eyes of every Green Party member across the continent.
Many EU states have cut back on or eliminated their use of Russian gas and in order to meet the needs of their citizenry and industries must now revert to the use of coal-fired power plants, something they swore off in the name of combating climate change.
Europe’s largest economy, Germany, with Green Party members in its coalition government, has led the way in returning to the use of coal after being well on its way to phasing out coal from its energy sector at the start of 2022.
CBC news reports that Chris Bataille, an adjunct research fellow with the Columbia Center on Global Energy Policy commented in relation to Berlin restarting its coal-fired plants:
“Part of the reason the Germans are allowing these coal plants to turn back on right now, is they want to shut off their gas plants so that they can refill their gas storage for the winter,” he said.
Meanwhile, despite the sanctions, the Kremlin will have a record energy revenue haul this year as countries such as China and India step up imports of energy from Russia.
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