The two conflicting sides of EU energy policy were on display on 24 June, the day on which you published an article entitled “‘Low-carbon’ EU set to prolong coal subsidies”.

On that day, hundreds of policymakers and influencers from European institutions, member states, regions, and from the rural and energy communities met in Brussels to launch the Future of Rural Energy in Europe (FREE) initiative, which provides a platform for discussion about cleaner-energy production and consumption in Europe’s rural communities.

These are communities that want to contribute to a low-carbon EU and are often overlooked when it comes to energy policy.

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On the same day, your article revealed plans by the European Commission to give special subsidies to the coal industry until 2023, plans that would undermine attempts to ensure that emissions of carbon dioxide are 20% lower in 2020 than in 1990.

European politicians have long been averse to ‘backing winners’ in the energy sector. It is now perhaps time to do just that. Carbon could be reduced significantly in the short term if tens of millions of European consumers were to replace applications using oil and coal with cleaner energy sources, such as renewable energies, and lighter fossil fuels, such as natural gas and LPG.

Political support and public money should also be invested in cleaner-energy technology solutions and in energy-efficiency measures directly targeted to consumers. We can no longer ignore the fact that we are looking for 21st-century carbon-reduction targets, yet are doing nothing about the endemic use by rural consumers of 19th-century technologies reliant upon coal and heating oil.

From:

Andrew Ford

SHV Gas

Hoofddorp

The Netherlands