L R AS Published on Sunday 10 May 2020 - n° 321 - Categories:Europe
Help yourself and heaven will help you!
Various coalitions of interest are lobbying the European Commission to put environmental objectives at the centre of post-pandemic recovery.
The Spanish daily El Pais understands that renewable energies are a "second major priority" in the European Commission's draft recovery plan.
It would consist of "a so-called 'wave of building renovation'". It would aim to revise the EU's building stock to help the Union become climate neutral by 2050. The plan could require €75bn in additional annual funding, on top of what has already been committed in previous years. Support for renewable energy would mainly take the form of loans. More limited subsidies would be granted according to the maturity of each segment.
The commission spokesman said on 14 April: "Economic recovery and the transition to a sustainable and climate-neutral economy go hand in hand. »
90 stakeholders (including Fraunhofer ISE) gathered in the Solar Europe Now fund, have just expressed their concern about the current lack of financial and R&D impetus in the sector. This hinders its development, stops European industrial sovereignty in strategic technologies and limits the decarbonisation of the Union.
PV Tech of 6 May
Editor's note A large number of environmentalists or green energy stakeholders are stepping up to the plate to justify, demand and even demand a shift towards renewable energy technologies. Their approach is sympathetic and even praiseworthy. However, as we have pointed out on several occasions, the population does not care about carbonising the atmosphere, polluting and neglecting all energy-saving installations. Consequently, these leaders are well isolated because there is no popular movement to follow these personalities.
The authorities of the European Union as well as the leaders of the different States have only one objective, that of reviving the economy. If this can be done through the green economy such as the insulation of buildings, so much the better.
All the heads of companies are going to go back to work with their old production tool, with a lack of orders, with a surplus of employees compared to their activity, which puts their company in jeopardy. Thus, the concern for renewable energies will come in a second phase when they will have been able to stabilise and even turn their business around.
From then on, these movements in favour of the green economy are out of step with the immediate urgency to face the difficulties of the day. This shows what the lack of political realism can lead to. Their "concern about the lack of European leadership" is a lack of understanding of the current situation.
Not surprisingly, therefore, the commission is prioritising economic recovery and putting the renovation of buildings, which is part of energy savings, on the back burner.
Why don't these 90 responsible actors take decisions at their own level rather than waiting for other decision-makers to take the decisions they don't want or can't take? There are two major overlapping principles: if you want to, you can! Help yourself and heaven will help you. All environmentalists should apply these maxims to themselves. The world would evolve faster.
