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New Energy World™
New Energy World™ embraces the whole energy industry as it connects and converges to address the decarbonisation challenge. It covers progress being made across the industry, from the dynamics under way to reduce emissions in oil and gas, through improvements to the efficiency of energy conversion and use, to cutting-edge initiatives in renewable and low-carbon technologies.
Backsliding towards fossil fuels
27/7/2022
6 min read
Feature
As Russia threatens to stall or cut-off gas supplies next winter, an alarming number of European countries, including the UK, are backtracking on climate pledges – firing up mothballed coal plants temporarily and boosting oil and gas developments. Brian Davis reports.
Can climate plans keep on track? Faced with the threat to limit or cut-off gas supplies from Russia due to the Ukraine war, a growing number of European countries are adopting measures that ‘backslide’ from well-publicised climate change targets.
As a result, European Commission (EC) President Ursula von der Leyen recently warned European Union (EU) members ‘not to backtrack’ on the long-term drive to cut fossil fuels as several nations turn to coal following Russia’s decision to limit their gas supplies.
Others have ramped up gas drilling initiatives, while some governments seem set on u-turns which will greenlight drilling operations that had previously been taken off the table.