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Shell lobbied to undermine EU renewables targets

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.”

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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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