COP27: Contradictions Foretold

The other day I was looking back at the C@W “predictions 2022” compo.  En passant, it seems that back in January, none of us could believe Putin would actually invade …

Anyhow, I offered “it’s not a prediction, it’s a cert; 2022 will be a year when the contradictions in energy policy will truly make themselves felt” – and now, as then, I claim no credit because it was already obvious for all to see.  You could argue – certainly in the case of Germany – it had been obvious for years.

Anyhow, fast-forward to COP27, and much blathering about the wicked oil and gas producers limbering up to produce … more gas!  And – shock, horror - 

The push is coming from the host Egypt and its gas-producing allies amid a global energy crisis compounded by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Well yes.   And of course benighted Germany is well to the fore in stimulating the producers’ revived development activity.  As the Grauniad callously puts it: 

Panic over keeping people warm in winters to come, and keeping the lights on from gas-fired power generation, has led governments in Europe that previously relied on gas from Russia to push for new supplies from a range of other sources.

Well, errr, yes again!  ‘Panic‘, of course, is a loaded term in progressive circles, generally coupled as “moral panic”, which is always a thing to be derided contemptuously.  That really is a nasty little insinuation.

Yup, gas it is.  Nature’s most all-round effective off-the-shelf fuel offering, certainly in the context of today’s technology – while we patiently await practicable nuclear fusion, and/or serious electricity storage capability.  What wailing and gnashing of teeth there will be if Egypt engineers a COP27 resolution which labels gas as “sustainable” …

ND