European countries are set to take a bitter, yet necessary action as they are currently eyeing coal plants as an alternate energy source to have sufficient supplies come winter.
With their heavy reliance on Russia for energy supplies, the European countries are forced to restart their coal stations, a drastic measure that would affect the climate and environment to a great extent.
Russia’s play?
The decision to obtain energy from burning coal comes after Russian energy giant Gazprom decreased its energy supply in a pipeline to Germany.
The Kremlin blamed a technical issue related to Canadian sanctions but the European countries say it was a simple excuse to cut down supplies.
Desperate times call for desperate measures
The entire continent of Europe, especially Germany, is heavily dependent on Russian gas and it seems, for now, environmental concerns will have to take a backseat.
German Economy Minister Robert Habeck, a member of the environmentalist Green Party, admits restarting its coal plants is “bitter, but it’s almost necessary for this situation to reduce gas consumption.”
Other European countries like Italy, Austria, Denmark and Netherlands also plan to initiate their respective energy crisis plans to have sufficient energy stores in winter.
And the climate?
For the past few years, the world has tried to minimize its dependency on coal as an energy source.
According to UNFCCC, coal plants in Europe contributed to 22% of the EU’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in 2021.