Issues: Europe

Hydrogen: Climate Fix Or Fossil Fuelled Fiction?

Categories

LNGJusticeFossil FuelsClimate

10 Reasons why hydrogen is a problem 

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The aim of this briefing is to offer a clear and concise explanation of why hydrogen, regardless of how it is made, can create more problems than solutions for people and the planet. We have identified 10 key reasons that show why hydrogen poses serious climate, environmental and social justice risks.

The briefing highlights the problems with Europe’s move towards a hydrogen economy.

It shows how hydrogen, today largely made from fossil ‘natural’ gas, can be a safety hazard and a leaky climate issue.

While limited amounts of hydrogen might be needed in the future, the briefing shows how ‘green’ hydrogen could come with a troublesome track-record of land and resource-grabbing, unneeded infrastructure build-out, high energy bills and neocolonial practices that ultimately distract from urgently needed real solutions.

The briefing is a collection of easy-to-understand facts around hydrogen in the face of an oversized hydrogen boom fuelled by fossil fuel industry interests.

Want a sneak peek into the briefing? Here are the topics it adresses in 10 short chapters:

  • The Hydrogen Hype Hides a Greenwashing Scam
  • Hydrogen Infrastructure Could Become a Cash Cow for the Fossil Fuel Industry
  • Hydrogen Is Dangerous
  • Hydrogen Is a Climate Hazard
  • Hydrogen Has Negative Impacts on Natural Resources
  • Hydrogen Worsens the Neocolonial Dynamics of Our Current Energy System
  • Hydrogen Is an Uncertain Bet That Could Ultimately Benefit Polluters
  • Hydrogen Is Expensive
  • Hydrogen Is Linked to Dirty Fossil Fertilizers
  • Hydrogen Distracts From Real Solutions

 

Energy Imports: The Missing Piece of the EU Methane Regulation Puzzle

Categories

Fossil Fuels

An Independent Verification Body Required to Oversee Methane Emissions outside EU borders

Deep cuts to human-caused methane emissions are a top priority if we want to fix the climate crisis and slow the rate of global warming. Methane has more than 80 times the warming power of carbon dioxide (CO2) over a 20-year period after it reaches the atmosphere. Time is of the essence and we need to act now. The energy sector is responsible for roughly 40% of total anthropogenic methane emissions and oil, coal and fossil gas operations are the largest source of those emissions.

So far the provisions discussed in the EU Methane Regulation Proposal to tackle emissions across the whole supply chain only include an information obligation for importers and are based on a weak verification system, referring to the UNEP-led International Methane Emissions Observatory (IMEO) as verifier body (article 10 of the Methane Regulation Proposal). This is not good news, considering its position is biased because of its connections with fossil fuel industries.

The Methane Proposal needs to be a bold instrument to cut methane emissions across the entire supply chain, while phasing out fossil gas by 2035 and accelerating the transition towards 100% renewables.

Extending the EU domestic provisions on Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification (MRV), Leak Detection and Repair (LDAR), and Limits on Routine Venting and Flaring (LRVF) to operators located outside the EU is legally possible.

Together with CAN-Europe, we co-wrote a fact sheet highlighting the importance of slashing methane emissions from energy imports and the need for an independent verification system detached from fossil fuel industry interests.

“Given the powerful warming potential of methane and the fact that it is leaking across the supply chain, especially upstream at extraction level, requires urgent action outside EU borders. More than 80% of the fossil gas consumed in the EU comes from third countries responsible for 75 to 90% of the energy sector’s methane emissions. A recent report shows that legally speaking it is feasible to apply measures on non-EU operators placing products on the EU market. Policy makers cannot shut their eyes on what’s happening outside EU borders and need to push through rules to bring down domestic but also external methane emissions stemming from imports.” (Enrico Donda – Gas Campaigner, Food & Water Action Europe)     

 

“Given the powerful warming potential of methane and the fact that it is leaking across the supply chain, especially upstream at extraction level, requires urgent action outside EU borders. More than 80% of the fossil gas consumed in the EU comes from third countries responsible for 75 to 90% of the energy sector’s methane emissions. A recent report shows that legally speaking it is feasible to apply measures on non-EU operators placing products on the EU market. Policy makers cannot shut their eyes on what’s happening outside EU borders and need to push through rules to bring down domestic but also external methane emissions stemming from imports.” (Esther Bollendorff, Gas Policy Expert at Climate Action Network Europe)     

LNG – Der Flüssige Weg ins Klimachaos

Categories

Fossil Fuels

 

Hier geht’s zum LNG-Papier (Deutsch).

‘Liquefied Natural Gas’ (LNG) – Flüssigerdgas steht im Rampenlicht. Die Kosten für fossiles Gas steigen seit 2021 und die furchtbare Invasion der Ukraine durch russische Streitkräfte zwingt Regierungen sich mit der Frage zu befassen, wie die Abhängigkeit Europas von fossilen Energieträgern aus Russland beendet werden kann. Zusammen mit der Notwendigkeit so schnell wie möglich von fossilen Brennstoffen wegzukommen, um die Auswirkungen des Klimawandels zu begrenzen und die globale Erwärmung unter 1,5°C zu halten, haben diese Realitäten Aufregung um LNG erzeugt. Was jedoch ist LNG und warum ist es wichtig? Das vorliegende Papier ist als Warnung davor zu verstehen, was die Ausbreitung von LNG als vermeintliche Lösung für Fragen der Energiesicherheit in Europa anrichten könnte. Es wird zehn Hauptargumente anführen, die die zahlreichen Probleme aufzeigen, die LNG mit sich bringt.

Lesen Sie hier das LNG-Papier auf Deutsch

LNG: The Liquid Path to Climate Chaos

Categories

Fossil Fuels

10 reasons why liquified fossil gas is the wrong choice for Europe

Read full report here.

“Liquefied Natural Gas” (LNG) has been thrown into the spotlight. The cost of fossil gas has been rising since 2021 and the horrific invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops has forced governments to grapple with how to end Europe’s fossil fuel dependency on Russia. Together with the need to get off fossil fuels as soon as possible in order to mitigate the impacts of climate change and keep global warming to below 1,5 degrees, these realities have created a buzz around LNG. But what is LNG and why does it matter? This briefing looks to raise the alarm bell around the roll out of LNG across Europe as an attempt to tackle energy security concerns. It will put forward ten key arguments that showcase the host of problems LNG brings.

 The briefing has is also available in Croatian, Polish, Spanish and Galician, German, French and Greek

But first, an explanation of what LNG actually is. 

LNG simply refers to fossil gas which is transported not through pipelines in a gaseous form, but which is chilled to minus 162°C in order to be liquefied and transported large distances by ships. 

This means that when we talk about LNG in Europe, we are talking about gas that is extracted, converted into liquid form, shipped across an ocean, converted back into gaseous form, then pumped through the European gas grid to eventually heat and cool homes, and power industry activities. 

These LNG imports made up 20.5% of Europe’s fossil gas consumption in 20211 and with pressure to end imports of Russian gas, governments are looking to LNG from non-Russian sources to meet demand. 

Moves to get off Russian gas are necessary and urgent to help end the war in Ukraine by reducing the income Putin has for his war machine. Yet, we must also be cautious of letting short-term energy supply concerns lock Europe into long-term costly deals that trap consumers into more dirty fossil fuel infrastructure and energy dependencies in the future.

Long-term fossil gas use is incompatible with a safe climate and this needs to be the turning point when Europe moves away from fossil fuels once and for all. 

This briefing provides counterarguments to the overinflated role that LNG is being positioned to have in Europe’s energy future, and shows instead that this is a dangerous distraction from the just energy transition to renewables that is so desperately needed. 

The Urgent Case to Stop Factory Farms in Europe

Categories

Food

 

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ESPAÑOL POLSKI DANSK

The number of farms in the European Union has declined very rapidly in the past decades, largely as a result of disastrous agricultural and trade policies. At the same time, meat production in many EU countries is increasing, driven especially by exports. The remaining farms are becoming ever-larger with a lower diversity of animal breeds. This has seen a rise in factory farms, characterised by large numbers of animals being confined in crowded spaces with insufficient pastureland to feed the animals – meaning that feed has to be brought into the farm.

Have your say on the future of Europe’s energy system

Categories

Food

We all know that Europe needs to stop building fossil fuel infrastructure yesterday to be able to keep the global temperature rise below 1.5 degrees.

The current law on priority EU energy infrastructure, the ‘TEN-E Regulation’, is very much at odds with the aim of building a future proof, clean energy system. It’s the law that made it possible for 55 fossil gas projects to receive highest EU priority as ‘Projects of Common Interest’ (PCIs). The good news: The law will be revised and the EU commission is seeking input from NGOs, citizens, scientists etc. on what a new energy infrastructure law should look like.

How can you submit to the consultation?

  1. Click on the button below – it will generate an email to the European Commission with a pre-written text.
  2. Fill out your name and other details at the bottom of the email text.
  3. If you have time, try to personalise your submission as much as possible. You could add a sentence or two at the start to say where you are writing from and why you particularly care about this issue. Feel free to edit the text of the email.

Link not working? Click here for an alternative way to make a submission.