“Shell
successfully lobbied to undermine European renewable energy targets
ahead of a key agreement on emissions cuts reached in October last
year, newly released documents reveal.”
“... it
now appears that a key part of the agreement – which was championed
by the UK government – was proposed by a Shell lobbyist as early as
October 2011. At the 2014 meeting heads of government agreed a 40%
overall target for the bloc’s emissions cuts, but in the run up to
the deal there had been disagreement between member states about how
best to achieve that. The UK and others had resisted binding targets
for individual member states on energy efficiency and renewable
energy and these did not make it into the final agreement. Proponents
of renewable energy say this was a key missed opportunity to give a
strong signal to investors that the EU was serious about clean
energy.”
“...
documents released to the Guardian under freedom of information laws
show that as far back as October 2011, Shell had begun lobbying the
Barroso, who was succeeded by Jean-Claude Juncker last November, to
scrap the bloc’s existing formula for linking carbon-cutting goals
with binding renewable energy laws.”
“Participants
in the 2030 negotiations confirm that Shell was the first lobbyist to
push for a single target in Brussels, and its heft gave the idea
momentum.”
“Most
of Shell’s operations are now gas rather than oil-based and the
firm has invested heavily in Brazilian bioethanol. But
environmentalists object to the company’s pursuit of Arctic
drilling and its extraction of Canadian tar sands, one of the most
polluting fossil fuel sources.”
Prior to the crisis, there was a tension for
investments in clean energy. For example, European Union set some
goals for 2020, concerning the increasing penetration of renewable
energy systems inside the energy mixture of the EU, combined with
specific targets for the restriction of carbon emissions. Even
Obama made some statements, that forms of clean energy could bring
growth and jobs as a solution to the destruction by the crisis.
All these things now appear to be left behind because the goal is
only one: Unlimited growth at any cost.
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