Hi Aseem, Hello al, Thanks for your commentary. It is informative. But I don’t agree with all of your assessments. Working as co-chair of a committee dealing with high level radioactive waste management, I can not agree with you that nuclear energy is the path forward. It also takes much too long to build. European experience shows that countries that heavily invest in nuclear, are slow to build out renewables. They are also at risk of big supply problems if they become too heavily dependent on nuclear.
Germany will most certainly be expanding its renewable energy push. It is currently getting about 50% of its electricity from renewables (up from 6% in 2000: actually in the first two months of 2022 it has been getting well over 50%). With the Ukraine crisis, the expansion of renewables will be putting into fast speed. There are still many ways to enhance energy efficiency and energy savings. Plans are to be climate neutral by 2045 with 65% renewables by 2030. I think we might now get there as early as 2025 or 2027. In response to a request from Peace Boat in Japan, I wrote the attached memo this morning. It is in response to the following statement from five former Japanese prime ministers criticising the EU’s sustainability taxonomy which lists both natural gas and nuclear as sustainable (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXNi2gLjxm). I agree with their critique. My response is attached. Best, Miranda Am 26.02.2022 um 20:02 schrieb Aseem Prakash <as...@uw.edu<mailto:as...@uw.edu>>: Hi Miranda (and GEP community): Thanks for your thoughtful comments on the Ukraine crisis. Here is a commentary that Nives and I published in Forbes.com<http://forbes.com/>: "Ukraine Crisis is Terrible News for Climate Policy." Abstract: Effective decarbonization cannot be separated from energy security. Rising gas prices mean that fracked shale gas is back. About two dozen U.S. gas tankers are headed to Europe and an additional 33 might follow. Moreover, renewable energy will not create energy self-sufficiency as long as China controls the renewable energy supply chain, especially the critical minerals. Western democracies should invest in domestic mining while taking into account the concerns of local communities. The climate movement needs to reconsider its opposition to nuclear energy and carbon capture because the Ukraine crisis may have revied the fortunes of the fossil fuel industry, at least in the short term. Here is the commentary: https://www.forbes.com/sites/prakashdolsak/2022/02/23/ukraine-crisis-is-terrible-news-for-climate-policy/?sh=2fa73d7d5041 If you cannot access it, please email me and I will send you a PDF. Best, Aseem ____________________________________________________________ ASEEM PRAKASH Professor, Department of Political Science Walker Family Professor for the College of Arts and Sciences Founding Director, UW Center for Environmental Politics<http://depts.washington.edu/envirpol/> University of Washington, Seattle aseemprakash.net<http://aseemprakash.net/> ________________________________ From: gep-ed@googlegroups.com<mailto:gep-ed@googlegroups.com> <gep-ed@googlegroups.com<mailto:gep-ed@googlegroups.com>> on behalf of Schreurs, Miranda <miranda.schre...@hfp.tum.de<mailto:miranda.schre...@hfp.tum.de>> Sent: Saturday, February 26, 2022 10:44 AM To: gep-ed@googlegroups.com<mailto:gep-ed@googlegroups.com> <gep-ed@googlegroups.com<mailto:gep-ed@googlegroups.com>> Subject: [gep-ed] The Ukraine invasion democracy and energy transitions Dear GEP-EDers I am totally distracted and disgusted by what is going on in the Ukraine. Putin’s march into the Ukraine is frightening. It reminds me of what happened in Poland, Czechoslovakia, central and Eastern Europe. I grew up in a neighbourhood of Europeans who fled the Soviet Union’s invasions of the past (Prague Spring). The potential for a break out of a larger war is real and a Cold War is certainly back. Putin has taken Europe and to some extent the US on a ride — and the west fell into his net. He pursued the game of economic cooperation and interdependence, with major European and especially German companies become heavily dependent on Russian resources. Germany is about 50 percent dependent on Russia for its gas supplies and is also highly dependent on its oil and coal. Europe did not imagine what is now unfolding. Over the years, NATO forces have been weakened. And despite what happened with the annexation of Crimea (in the Ukraine) and parts of Georgia, the West did little to deter what is now coming to light as a long planned strategy on Putin’s part to rebuild at least parts of the Soviet empire. NATO is now scrambling to strengthen border defences and alliances. Hopefully the sanctions which have been introduced will have some impact. I understand that more are in planning. For the Ukraine, we have to hope that the aid and the sanctions are not much too little, much too late. On top of the populists and authoritarian leaders who have sprung up in so many countries, this invasion really calls for us all to do more to speak up for freedom and democracy. It is also a call to speed up our energy transitions. We need greater energy efficiency, energy savings and renewable energies to break the dependency on authoritarian regimes. Especially Europe but also the US, Japan, and S Korea have paid into the coffers of Russia (and other dictatorial regimes) with our large appetites for fossil fuels. So, in response, I turned down my heat even further (it was already off in most rooms), wrote an article, and have participated in panels talking about what is going on with Russia and why democracy is in serious danger if we are not prepared to ourselves pay a price to protect it. One way of doing this in the medium- to long-term is an energy transition. This will be important for climate change but also for the fight against authoritarianism. This is obviously an over simplification of a very complex situation, and I know that you all know this, but I somehow felt the need to say something…. Wishing for the best for the Ukraine…. Miranda Schreurs Professor for Environment and Climate Policy Technical University of Munich -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "gep-ed" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to gep-ed+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com<mailto:gep-ed+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com>. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/gep-ed/8D355445-F221-4F57-9DB5-EC0436B3DE67%40hfp.tum.de. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "gep-ed" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to gep-ed+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com<mailto:gep-ed+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com>. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/gep-ed/CO1PR08MB7644817CFC79502AE3D6D4C2DD3F9%40CO1PR08MB7644.namprd08.prod.outlook.com<https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/gep-ed/CO1PR08MB7644817CFC79502AE3D6D4C2DD3F9%40CO1PR08MB7644.namprd08.prod.outlook.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "gep-ed" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to gep-ed+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. 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Five PMs critique of taxonomy.pdf
Description: Five PMs critique of taxonomy.pdf
