
Column / Crude World
The Kremlin's money problems
Behind Putin’s bluster, the Russian president is keen to see sanctions lifted because his country's economy is bleeding badly.
Monday
21st Nov 2016

Behind Putin’s bluster, the Russian president is keen to see sanctions lifted because his country's economy is bleeding badly.

Europe cannot afford to take the wind out of its energy transition. People and communities must be guaranteed the right to take energy production and energy savings into their own hands.

The European Commission wants to vet all major new gas deals with non-EU suppliers under extra powers unveiled on Tuesday to prevent a major supply crisis.
The German environment minister said safety at the recently reopened Doel and Tihange power plants was not guaranteed.
Dutch minister to visit a plant on Wednesday, while Germany also wants to have a meeting with the Belgian minister responsible.
The chairman of Germany's nuclear waste committee has criticised sharply Sweden's proposed repository and said that Europeans should agree on common standards.

Russia state-controlled Gazprom plans to build Nord Stream II gas pipeline on its own after partners pull out.

The Russian leader's recent visit to Beijing shows that whereas China is going full steam ahead, Russia’s Asia pivot is slowly running out of steam.

Neither sanctions, EU law nor politics can stop the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from being built, its small army of European lobbyists has said.

Like all nuclear nations, Germany faces an unfathomable conundrum: where to store the waste? Its handling of the problem has sparked a decades-long political battle that shows no sign of abating. First in a two-part series.
Has EU's flagship climate tool still an influence on moving industry away from fossil fuels? Emitting a tonne of carbon dioxide in Europe has become 25 percent cheaper since the start of 2016.
Why let Gazprom take on Brussels alone, when it can have EU states do its bidding?
A second gas pipeline connected Russia to Germany could "destabilise" central Europe and harm energy security, nine eastern EU leaders are preparing to tell Juncker.
While the European Commission is still assessing how to react to the plans for a new Russia-Germany gas pipeline, the threats to EU energy supplies and Baltic Sea security are becoming clearer.
Germany's politicians and public have agreed to leave nuclear energy behind, but a mooted phase-out of coal-power generation may not be so easily achieved.
Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, has said Nord Stream II, a new Russia-Germany gas pipeline, is not in the EU’s interests.
It will be the “elephant in the room,” when EU leaders meet in Brussels on Thursday, as opposition mounts to Germany and Russia's gas pipeline project.
An east-west quarrel over the Nord Stream gas pipeline has sneaked onto the agenda of next week's EU summit, draft conclusions show.
European wind and solar industries have welcomed US President Barack Obama’s new climate plan while European politicians see Washington’s move as a positive signal ahead of UN climate talks in Paris.

According to an internal document, the commission is floating monitoring and reporting instruments, but no strict measures to police proposed new rules.

Around 1.6 million premature deaths would be prevented every year if the world's governments stopped subsidising fossil fuels, an IMF study has found.
Iran is voicing fresh interest in selling gas to Europe. But the idea, which would reduce dependence on Russia, is conditional on the outcome of nuclear talks.
Bad will, legal disputes, and the "high politics" of the Russia-Ukraine conflict have, again, put EU gas transit at risk.

Norwegian MPs have voted to ban Norway's pension fund from investing in coal firm, the largest political withdrawal of funds from fossil fuels.

EU energy commissioner Maros Sefcovic will start visiting EU countries this week to share initial findings of a commission analysis of each country's energy and climate policy.
The EU has unveiled plans to partner up with a Paris-based private equity firm to invest in energy companies across Sub-Saharan Africa.
Turkish Stream pipeline to deliver gas in December 2016. Putin offers money to help Greece extend the project into Europe.

Negotiators from the EU's governments and the European Parliament reached a deal on Tuesday for the so-called market stability reserve.

The European Parliament's environment committee Tuesday approved a plan to try and steer investors away from traditional types of biofuels that have had negative side-effects on food prices, environment and climate change.
The European Commission has launched an anti-trust inquiry against the Russian gas giant, but said the case is not political.
EU diplomats say Gazprom’s recent threats on supplies to Europe are an attempt to put pressure on the European Commission over anti-trust proceedings.