Europe fights Climate Change

Europe has always led the way in fighting global warming by setting up aggressive targets in green-house gas emission reductions for its member countries. Denmark has played a leading role in advancing wind energy technology in the world, while Germany has played a top role in making solar energy reach grid parity in different places. The European Union has again set up an ambitious target to reduce GHG emissions by 40% by 2030, as compared to 1990 and making it mandatory to generate 27% of its energy from green sources. Many of the top countries such as Germany, Italy, Spain etc. have already installed massive wind and solar capacities. New capacity in these countries are now coming from captive consumption, as grid parity has been reached in many places.

Some of the Eastern European countries have pushed back against these RE targets particularly Poland, which has a large coal mining sector and gets 90% of its electricity from thermal sources. The European Union however has agreed to keep the target by offering the lower income countries more subsidies and grants to achieve these targets. Most of the other high income nations such as USA, Japan etc. have been very niggardly in setting GHG emission targets and have never done enough to fight climate change. Instead they have been pestering lower income developing countries such as China and India to set targets. Developing nations do not have the capital and technology to set aggressive targets, since most of their population is poor and depends on primitive forms of energy particularly coal.

Other countries such as Canada and Russia have been worse and amongst the biggest contributors to global warming with their apathetic attitude. Middle Eastern countries have been opposed to global warming as it will reduce the demand for their massive oil reserves which the single largest factor contributing to their wealth. Reducing prices of renewable energy is the biggest threat facing their lazy populations, which have become used to hundreds of billions of dollars being generated each year by oil and gas exports. Some of the richest nations in the world are now Middle Eastern and their per-capita GHG emissions are also the highest. They have opposed global warming tooth and nail and have despicably asked for compensation for the global warming fight. These states have more than $2.5 trillion in reserves. All of it is dirty fossil fuel money and can easily reverse global warming.