ECONOMIC WAR ON CHINA, RUSSIA WEAKENS EU ENVIRONMENTAL PUSH.
The European Union is failing to meet targets for the production of electric batteries and other green technology amid a lack of political leadership on climate policy, argues an editorial in the London-based Financial Times (FT) this week.
“News that European battery projects are being scrapped or seriously scaled down is an important sign of things going wrong”, the FT wrote.
The article went on to note several broad problems faced by European industry, including technological “handicaps” compared to other countries and difficulties in accessing raw materials and cheap energy. But FT chiefly blames the continent’s political leaders for failing to facilitate market demand to make the development of green tech attractive to the private sector.
In the meantime the economic bloc has taken measures to protect domestic industry, with combined tariffs on Chinese vehicles recently reaching as high as 47.6%.
Chinese manufacturers like BYD have significantly innovated in the production of cheap electric vehicles in recent years, offering a variety of options for less than $30,000 and some as cheap as $10,000. Consumers in Latin America and other regions already enjoy access to the inexpensive cars, but trade barriers have kept them out of US and European hands even as political leaders stress the importance of addressing climate change.
Berlin’s recent struggles are emblematic of the troubled rollout of EU green policy. The country’s Green Party, which has grown increasingly fixated on the Western proxy war against Russia, successfully lobbied for Germany’s nuclear plants to be shut down in the years following Japan’s Fukushima nuclear accident. The policy has led the country to increase its reliance on coal-fired power plants to meet its energy needs.
Sanctions on Russian energy and the destruction of the Nord Stream gas pipeline have forced Germany to double down on the heavily-polluting technology, while also moving towards restarting some nuclear plants.
Some European countries have made impressive strides in the adoption of green tech, the FT notes, with electric vehicles making up 83% of new car sales in Norway in 2023. With the US and most European countries lagging far behind, it remains to be seen if political leaders are capable of enacting the necessary policy to reach similar numbers.
Source: Sputnik International, July 15, 2024. https://sputnikglobe.com/…/eu-struggles-to-meet-climate…