Oct. 10 (ERINS)—A lengthy article by Will Englund in today’s Washington Post peddles the usual nonsense about the reasons for the energy disruptions and hyperinflation ("recovery” after the COVID pandemic; excess Chinese production, etc.), but its real concern is that this could sink the entire Malthusian green agenda of global de-carbonization. The crisis is “raising questions about whether the world is ready for the green energy revolution when it’s having trouble powering itself right now,” writes Englund.
“As global leaders prepare to gather in Glasgow, Scotland, at the end of the month for a climate conference, advocates for renewable energy say the crisis shows the need to move further away from coal, gas and oil as prices for those commodities spike. Their critics contend just the opposite—that wind and solar have been tested and came up lacking. Analysts also worry that the shortages and high prices worldwide will severely crimp the economic recovery.”
The article notes that Europe is sharply divided on this issue, as reflected in the recent remarks by Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary, demanding that the EU “must change its policy.” They counterpose that to comments by EU climate chief Frans Timmermans: “The wrong response to this would be to slow down the transition to renewable energy. The right response is to keep the momentum and perhaps even look for ways to increase the momentum.”
Some European countries are trying to buffer the social impact of this breakdown, without really addressing the problem. For example, the French government last month announced a “price shield” to stop additional increases in gas and electricity prices. And in Spain, the government has adopted emergency measures to help poor families pay their electricity bills, and rein in the “extraordinary profits” of energy companies.
