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World Upside Down: Voters Trust German Greens to Handle Climate Crisis Just as Party Throws Support for American Fracked „Freedom“ Gas

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Food

by Andy Gheorghiu

A long, long time ago, in a country known for its green forests, old traditions and also large-scale industry, a miracle was about to happen. A real and much-needed clean energy transition by an industrialized – and very influential – European country was on the way to the so-called “Energiewende.”

However, the transition was simply too successful. The mighty fossil fuel lobby saw that a move away from their dirty business model to a decentralized climate-friendly energy system based on renewables and energy efficiency (perhaps coupled with a changed economic model) was about to transform the old power patterns.

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Touring Four of the Most Pointless Gas Projects in Europe

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Food

By Frida Kieninger

Summer time is travel time!

What about taking a trip to some climate disaster projects across Europe? In 2017, Food & Water Europe took you to some of the most ridiculous and costly gas projects that applied to become part of the EU’s priority list for gas infrastructure, the List of Projects of Common Interest (PCI list). This year, in the brand new 2019 all-inclusive experience, we will take you to some more gas projects that make absolutely no sense and are applying for a spot on the PCI list…

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EU’s Fracking Hypocrisy

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Common Resources

How LNG is still an accepted back door for fracked gas in Europe

With climate chaos looming and millions on the streets to support the youth climate strikes, it’s time to have a closer look at the hypocrisy of the European Union regarding fracking. A new Food & Water Watch report – The Fracking End Game: Locked Into Plastics, Pollution and Climate Chaos – casts a profound look at the United States’ current fracking and LNG export boom. This blog shows how the EU’s LNG import plans fit perfectly with the U.S.’ dirty plans.

A number of EU Member States have legislative or de facto bans on fracking in place, yet at the same time, imports of fracked US gas are on the rise: Between a meeting of U.S. President Trump and EU Commission President Juncker in July 2018 and spring of this year, exports of American fossil gas have increased by over 270%. In March 2019 alone, over 1.4 billion cubic meters of U.S. LNG reached Europe. While these volumes are still an insignificant fraction of EU gas consumption, decision makers’ endorsement of this steadily growing, extremely harmful source of gas is highly problematic.

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ExxonMobil Comes To Brussels

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Food

By Eilidh Robb

Update, March 19 : ExxonMobil, despite happily using lobbying opportunities in the European Parliament and other EU institutions, has refused parliamentarians’ invitation to speak at the hearing. This is unacceptable. Parliament must act to hold Exxon accountable. At the hearing, we will be asking them to revoke their lobbying access entirely, just as they did with Monsanto in 2017.

In the same way that we look back on the tobacco industry’s remarkable PR stunts and wonder how they got away with it, we will look back on the activities of ExxonMobil and ask ourselves the same question.

For the past 50 years ExxonMobil has been sitting on some pretty important findings about the certainty of human-induced climate change – findings that they conveniently hid from the world by launching a $33 billion campaign to sow doubt and denial about global warming, which allowed them to justify continued pollution.

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Zurich Citizens’ Vote for Public Water

By David Sánchez

Learn more about stopping water privatization in Zurich.To a certain extent, attempts to privatise water have started looking like an anachronism in Europe. From Madrid and Thessalonoki to Berlin and Italy, every time citizens have been asked, they have massively supported public water management. If we have learned a lesson after years of imposed austerity, it is that water privatization can only have a chance when it is imposed against citizens’ will, as we are still witnessing in Greece. With a trend to remunicipalise water services around the world, some of the main examples are happening in European cities like Terrassa and Valladolid in Spain; Montpellier in France; Mafra in Portugal; and Torino in Italy.

The last ones to reject privatization plans are the citizens of Zurich, Switzerland. Last Sunday, voters rejected (by more than 50 percent) the plans of the cantonal government to allow the partial privatization of water utilities and to give private land owners a greater say in river and lakeshore use.

Rejecting recommendations by the main centre-right parties and big business, a campaign lead by left wing parties, unions and environmental groups managed to raise awareness about water commodification and against the privatization of nature.

Saying no is not enough

The morning after the referendum, an initiative was introduced in the parliament of the Canton of Zurich to guarantee public ownership over water and take initiatives to promote the human right to water. It’s a great example of how we can move from resistance into proactive campaigns to secure a model of public water management that promotes social justice.

If you read German, you can get more information about the situation in Zurich in the website of the campaign and in the press release from the trade unions.

Over 67,000 Signatures Against Proposed Fracked Gas LNG Terminals in Germany

by Andy Gheorghiu

“Gassy” Germany Beats “Green” Germany

Action in Berlin. (Photo by Uwe Hiksch)

Despite its “green” image, Germany remains the biggest gas consumer in Europe. Using almost 92 billion cubic metres (bcm) of fossil gas in 2017, gas accounted for 24 percent in Germany’s primary energy consumption. And the so-called “Climate Chancellor”, Angela Merkel, recently announced in Davos that the targeted coal phase-out will further increase Germany’s need for gas.

Because of its comprehensive cross-border pipeline infrastructure and its central location, Germany has become the main gas transit hub in Europe, with significant amounts of gas from Russia and Norway transiting the country for delivery to other markets: With a gas import capacity of 54 bcm per year from Norway (via three pipelines), 208 bcm per year from Russia (via 3 pipelines: North Stream 1, Yamal and the Ukraine pipeline system), and some 25 bcm per year from the Netherlands (via four main pipelines and interconnection points), and gas storage capacities of 24.6 bcm (via 51 gas storage facilities), Germany can import and store more than three times more gas than it consumes. According to the German Economy Ministry, Germany’s gas storage facilities are the fourth largest in the world and the largest in Europe.

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