Belgium in Brief: Offshore excitement vs energy sobriety

Belgium in Brief: Offshore excitement vs energy sobriety

With Europe pinched by exorbitant energy bills on the one hand and climate ambitions that demand a complete rethink of how we power everything on the other, leaders see renewable energy as the solution to both problems and yesterday marked a major step in developing this resource collectively.

The North Sea Summit saw nine nations unveil plans for a green energy coalition that would transform this marine area into an offshore powerhouse capable of producing, eventually, three times the electricity of France's nuclear park. It didn't go unnoticed that this area that was previously Europe's richest reserve of oil and gas (though with many fields now overexploited) might now become the "world's biggest powerplant".

Moreover, the commitment to combine efforts towards energy sovereignty rather than the EU leaving individual Member States to work towards imposed energy targets is yet another group within a group – and notably one that includes EU outsiders in the shape of the UK and, to a lesser extent, Norway.

But much as we can all hope that progress is swiftly made to realise this masterplan, the project won't save Europe from its present predicament – not least with the sustained attacks on nuclear energy, which provides a concentrated and clean energy yet is lampooned by scaremongering "environmentalists".

Whilst heads of state are ever eager to announce decisive action plans that move towards universally accepted goals (cleaning up our energy provision), they are less enthusiastic about the other side of the same argument: in order to move meaningfully towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions (without outsourcing polluting activity to developing nations) we will have to curb consumption.

It's an admission out of sync with the aim to stabilise economies: how can we achieve a 2% growth in GDP whilst also slashing emissions? Marrying climate ambitions with economic targets is a challenge that straight-talking climatologists accept is more fantasy than technicality.

Sobriety is the word of the moment: as well as cutting dependence on fossil fuels we need to simply use less energy of any kind. Whatever the context, calls for sobriety are never appealing. Then again, it's a course of action better made out of choice than obligation. And as in other scenarios, acting collectively softens the blow. Is it time for a European sobriety summit?

Let @Orlando_tbt know.

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