EU’s green policies ended the moment Russia cut off gas supplies

Steps aimed at combatting climate change have long been on the EU’s agenda. Cycle and nuclear power plants using hydrocarbon resources were declared as the worst offenders, particularly when it comes to reducing carbon emissions and the disposal of nuclear power plant wastes. And yet, new developments are afoot.

INTERESTING DECISION FROM THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

Developed economies and especially countries in Continental Europe determine policies within the scope of the bloc's "zero carbon" policy. In fact, they have already announced a program they call the "Green Deal".

According to this program, actions that will result in a serious transformation have been adopted, including slashing and limiting carbon emissions, especially for those who want to sell products to Europe. In this context, coal power plants were being shut down, natural gas power plants were scheduled to be closed, and the replacement of nuclear power plants that have expired was outlawed.

I specifically used the past tense because now the European Parliament has suddenly decided that natural gas and nuclear power are "green".

WHAT IS INCLUDED IN THE BILL?

The recent global energy crisis has deeply altered numerous balances. Especially rising costs and concerns about supply security have forced countries to change their policies. For example, Europe, which emphasized the importance of moving away from hydrocarbons and nuclear energy until very recently, is now preparing a bill to define natural gas and nuclear power as "green energy."

The bill is now in the European Parliament. In fact, a motion to dismiss the bill was rejected in a vote last week. This paved the way for the adoption of the bill, which says that investments in natural gas and nuclear power plants are green, sustainable, and environmentally friendly. Of course, Russia's use of energy as a weapon has a significant impact on this. In other words, the environmentalism of the EU stopped the moment Russia cut off gas supplies.

PAVING THE WAY FOR NATURAL GAS AND NUCLEAR FUNDING

The member states of the European Union are adversely affected by the global energy crisis. Of course, the Russia-Ukraine War has a lot of bearing on this. Especially after sanctions were imposed on Russia, Moscow's stipulation that ruble be used for energy payments is making things more difficult. In other words, Reducing Europe's dependence on Russia in energy also necessitates new investments.

In this respect, the inclusion of natural gas and nuclear in the scope of “green energy” is also of great importance in terms of financing these investments. This is because a way has been paved for investments in this scope to be funded by financial institutions.

HOW DOES THIS IMPACT TÜRKİYE?

We expect the aforementioned draft law to have a positive impact on countries such as Turkey, which do intensive trade with the EU. Unless the EU does not further "clarify" the text, as they have done in some other policies. In other words, as Germany reopens its coal plants and the EU defines natural gas and nuclear as green energy, countries that will trade with the EU will not be subject to heavy sanctions under the "Green Agreement".