A report by Les Amis de la Terre indicates that within 9 years the EU will have used up its own greenhouse gas emissions “bonus”.
While negotiations at COP 23 in Bonn are in full swing, the non-governmental organisation Les Amis de la Terre has published a report warning policymakers in the European Union. The recently announced plans, which aim to move beyond fossil fuels while "saving" gas, are not compatible with the targets set out in the Paris Agreement. "Brussels – the organisation explained – must immediately halt all support and all funding for the construction of new gas exploitation infrastructure".
The study – carried out by the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change at the University of Teesside, in the United Kingdom – also provided Brussels with a precise timeframe: "Taking into account the commitments made – the researchers explain – the nations that make up the EU have only nine years left." The total quantity of greenhouse gas emissions that Europe still has "available" has in fact been calculated, and which it should "spread" over the coming decades, in order to play its part in limiting the growth of the global mean temperature to a maximum of 2 degrees centigrade by the end of the century, relative to pre-industrial levels.
Indeed, if the current pace is maintained, by 2026 we will have to stop using any fossil energy source: "It is clear, therefore, that there is no room to start new production," the report states. Europe's stated intention to fund further gas-fired power plants, then, "is totally incompatible with a credible climate policy – explained Jagoda Munic, director of Les Amis de la Terre Europe. The industry strives to present gas as a clean energy in order to safeguard its business model, but the reality is that there is no room for such a source within the framework of the energy transition we need."
The organisation Les Amis de la Terre cited in this regard the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline, the final stretch of an immense gas pipeline running from the Caspian Sea to Italy, 807 kilometres long, of which around one hundred run beneath the waters of the Adriatic Sea, which is intended to carry 10 billion cubic metres of gas. "The Italian section alone would cost 4.5 billion euros, one tenth of the total price of the project. Of that sum, 2 billion euros could be granted by the European Investment Bank in the coming months."
The pipeline is not alone: the European Union is about to publish a list of 55 new projects that will be eligible to receive public funding. According to the environmental organisation, each piece of infrastructure will have a lifespan of between 40 and 50 years: "Subsidising their construction means either abandoning climate targets, or squandering billions of euros on projects that will have to be shut down within a few years."
