Having recently started reading Tim Marshall’s Prisoners of Geography, it has become clear to me just how Putin’s gas and oil supplies have made the western world puppets in his play for eastern power. With the EU’s new planned sanctions against Moscow and Gazprom, the strive for a cleaner Europe has never been greater. Yet the question we must ask ourselves is, is this in the name of the environment or war?
In the European continent 35% of the gas is imported from Russia. Within this, the UK only relies on Russia for 3% of its gas imports with our own North Sea supplies and Norway providing the rest of our intake. However, on the other side of things, Germany finds itself in a far tighter position. As of December 2021, Germany received 32% of its gas supplies from Russia, 22% from domestic storage, 20% from Norway, 12% from the Netherlands and 11% from Czechia. Whether we are dependent on Russia’s supplies or not, why are we still so reliant on gas and oil despite the warnings given to us by global scientists and researchers?
This month, we saw Boris Johnson’s new plan to invest in nuclear power, writing on Twitter: “Nuclear power stations like the one I visited in Hartlepool today are absolutely crucial to weaning us off fossil fuels, including Russian oil and gas. Instead of a new one every decade, we’re going to build one every year, powering homes with clean, safe and reliable energy.”
This turn to nuclear power is undoubtedly a great step and something Boris appears to be incredibly proud of (perhaps the only thing in the past few weeks) but how well are we are actually doing with renewables, especially after the shambolic displays at COP26 and how will the cost-of-living crisis effect targets? In 2020 we saw renewable electricity overtake gas and coal power for the first time. For the UK, renewable energy comes mostly in the form of offshore windfarms and as an island, we have no danger of running out of coastlines. However, if we turn our attention to Britain’s statistics, it becomes clear that we still import 60% of our fuel from abroad.
We have seen in the past two months just how much energy and control go hand in hand in conflicts between geopolitical powers. However, if we turn our attention to the future and listen to campaigners and activists such as Greta Thunberg and David Attenborough, we can put an end to our pursuit of oil and gas supplies and bring our focus to research and sustainable development. Having said this, however, the west must not forget about the more impoverished parts of the world, many of which belonged to European empires at some point or another in their history. Events such as COP26 and agreements such as the Paris Agreement are a start, but our governments must take them more seriously and invest in renewables. After all, what the past two months have demonstrated is just how independent nations could become without the grip of fossil fuels taking its slippery hold.
Emily Bird
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