According to the Director General of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), Francesco La Camera, the Ukraine crisis probably will speed up the energy transition to greener fuels. The first reason is that renewables can ensure energy independence from Russian gas. The second reason is they can certainly help environmental circumstances as they are now.
In the mid-term, there will be an energy transition to renewables
There is a rise in fossil fuel usage recently, but this is to secure energetic stability, the IRENA chief explains. The world’s energetic stability was disrupted by limiting gas supplies from Russia after the country is under Western sanctions because of the invasion of Ukraine.
La Camera says fossil fuel rise will be in a short term, but in the mid-term, the world will speed up the energy transition to renewables, and in time the economies will adjust to new energy sources. For now, they use whatever they have to pass through the winter without energy shortages, said La Camera.
He added the governments finally realized the meaning of energy independence. And they realized that replacing fossil fuels with renewables may lead to energy independence. Now the officials understand that switching to renewables is not beneficial for the environment only. It has potential for economies too. It will keep jobs and open new ones. A more vital economy means a raise in the countries’ GDPs.
Use whatever you have
The global energy crisis pushed Germany, the largest European economy, to delay the shutdowns of coal plants as planned before the Ukraine crisis. This winter Great Britain will try to rely on other, less polluting energy sources. Still, the government did not exclude the possibility of activating the country’s coal resources. Environmentalists disagree.
France and other countries turned back their interest in nuclear power plants. Those are generally aged plants planned to be closed after the Fukushima disaster in 2011. But to lack in other sources, some countries are starting the old reactors as winter comes by.
IRENA’s director La Camera agrees with environmental activists that nuclear power is not the best option. There are at least two factors contributing to rising fears of nuclear energy. The first concern is their security due the reactors’ lifespan was over years ago. The governments are concerned about the cost of restarting them. But every contribution in bridging up the possibility of winter energy shortages is welcome for now.