RE: [gep-ed] The Ukraine invasion democracy and energy transitions

[Rafael Friedmann]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts Miranda.   In my view it is the confluence of huge fossil fuel companies, their political influence to keep BAU reliance of fossil fuels into the far future, and the weakened role of governments everywhere, that maintains this pernicious and deleterious over-dependence on these fuels and stymies full-out decarbonization efforts. Worse, as leaders leadership starts to be questioned (usually because they’ve overstayed their welcome and Putin is the latest example), they tend to resort to conflicts to distract and divide opponents to their regimes. Putin and many others (in government and private sector) who pay lip service to mitigating climate change need to hear and heed the calls for action on climate change or get out or be thrown out. How long will we suffer these fools who put all of life on Earth at risk? How long will we support the insistence on having thousands of nuclear weapons? These too have to go and the $$$ and other resources they take-up can be put to work on much more positive and life-saving efforts.   Rafael   From: Schreurs, Miranda Sent: Saturday, February 26, 2022 10:44 AM To: gep-ed@googlegroups.com Subject: [gep-ed] The Ukraine invasion democracy and energy transitions   Dear GEP-EDers   I am totally distracted and disgusted by what is going on in the Ukraine.  Putin’s march into the Ukraine is frightening. It reminds me of what happened in Poland, Czechoslovakia, central and Eastern Europe.  I grew up in a neighbourhood of Europeans who fled the Soviet Union’s invasions of the past (Prague Spring). The potential for a break out of a larger war is real and a Cold War is certainly back. Putin has taken Europe and to some extent the US on a ride — and the west fell into his net.  He pursued the game of economic cooperation and interdependence, with major European and especially German companies become heavily dependent on Russian resources. Germany is about 50 percent dependent on Russia for its gas supplies and is also highly dependent on its oil and coal.   Europe did not imagine what is now unfolding. Over the years, NATO forces have been weakened.  And despite what happened with the annexation of Crimea (in the Ukraine) and parts of Georgia, the West did little to deter what is now coming to light as a long planned strategy on Putin’s part to rebuild at least parts of the Soviet empire. NATO is now scrambling to strengthen border defences and alliances.  Hopefully the sanctions which have been introduced will have some impact. I understand that more are in planning. For the Ukraine, we have to hope that the aid and the sanctions are not much too little, much too late.   On top of the populists and authoritarian leaders who have sprung up in so many countries, this invasion really calls for us all to do more to speak up for freedom and democracy. It is also a call to speed up our energy transitions. We need greater energy efficiency, energy savings and renewable energies to break the dependency on authoritarian regimes. Especially Europe but also the US, Japan, and S Korea  have paid into the coffers of Russia (and other dictatorial regimes) with our large appetites for fossil fuels.   So, in response, I turned down my heat even further (it was already off in most rooms), wrote an article, and have participated in panels talking about what is going on with Russia and why democracy is in serious danger if we are not prepared to ourselves pay a price to protect it.  One way of doing this in the medium- to long-term is an energy transition. This will be important for climate change but also for the fight against authoritarianism.   This is obviously an over simplification of a very complex situation, and I know that you all know this, but I somehow felt the need to say something….   Wishing for the best for the Ukraine….   Miranda Schreurs Professor for Environment and Climate Policy Technical University of Munich     -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "gep-ed" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to gep-ed+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/gep-ed/8D355445-F221-4F57-9DB5-EC0436B3DE67%40hfp.tum.de.   -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "gep-ed" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to gep-ed+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/gep-ed/44C63967-E4E3-4E6C-8B91-809CCC597307%40hxcore.ol.