The Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydło has announced a milestone on the path towards saving Poland’s mining industry: on May 1, a company called ‘The Polish Mining Group’ (PGG) was established. It will take over 11 coal mines, four bankruptcy-threatened plants and debts of mines and plants. Michał Olszewski takes a look.
All posts tagged: Russia
Energy boost for Russia and its neighbours
Renewable energy could supply Russia and Central Asian countries with all the electricity they need by 2030 − while cutting costs significantly. Paul Brown and Komila Nabiyeva investigate.
The Bulgarian energy transition – no decarbonization without diversification and liberalization
Bulgarian energy policy has suffered a lot in the past 20 years from the interdependence between state and private interests in the energy sector and bad governance practices at national level. Radostina Primova gives a summary of the current situation and explains why an improvement in the regulatory framework is urgently needed.
Running fast into the past – energy transition backwards in Hungary
In the case of Hungary one can only speak about a negative Energiewende, or the “black energy transition”, which is apparently transforming the whole energy system backwards. If nothing changes soon, one huge, state-owned ‘national’ energy trust would be formed, managing resources, production, transmission and distribution of energy – majorly based on fossil fuels and nuclear. Exactly how the socialist area left it in the early 1990’s. Ada Ámon explains.
In Poland, is the devil green?
The main message of Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si has not yet reached many parts of Polish society. These days, diplomats in Paris are trying to agree on an international treaty which would combat global warming. Around the world, thousands of green initiatives have been created. Secular, clergy, leftists and right-wing groups increasingly realize that climate change is not an invention by freaky scientists, but that it is in fact one of the biggest challenges to our societies of our time. Michal Olszewski explains.
The Polish conservatives and the ecology issue
There is a political shift in Poland. The right leaning parties have won the general elections: this means that the centrist Civic Platform (PO) – after eight years of ruling – has turned into the opposition again. As Michał Olszewski warns, this could lead to a number of severe consequences for the Polish political landscape, however, there are also some possibilities of shaping environmental policy, both nationally and internationally.
A view from Southern Africa on the nuclear issue
South Africa has the only nuclear power station on the continent. Now, the second biggest economy in Africa, and the most carbon polluting, plans to add another six or eight to the fold. But the cost could run into the trillions – larger, even, than the annual national budget, explains SA-based science writer Leonie Joubert.
The Green Peace Dividend – Why green technologies matter for international security
Violent conflicts and security crises around the world have many different causes and effects. The vast majority of them, however, are in one way or another related to energy policy. Yet making this link apparent to policy makers has been challenging. Experts from the foreign policy, security and energy communities have been reluctant to fully grasp the security implications of promising green energy technology and market developments, argue Rebecca Bertram and Charlotte Beck.
Ambiguous Russian climate pledge mystifies many
Russia has submitted its climate goals to the UN. A close analysis reveals the shortcomings of the contribution, especially in regards to the role of forestry, as Sophie Yeo and Dr. Simon Evans explain.
Energy – the seventh Sustainable Development Goal
The UN will include “access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy” in their post-2015 sustainable development goals (SDG). Matthias Ruchser explains the concepts and takes a look at what Germany needs to do in the coming years to fulfill the goal, namely turning its electricity transition into a holistic energy transition.