We need new terminals for liquefied natural gas (LNG) very soon, and two new nuclear power plants will be constructed in the Dutch town of Borssele. Nuclear power has long been taboo ever since Fukushima, and fossil investments were officially banned at the climate summit COP-26 just a year ago.
All this illustrates how lacking in vision our energy policy is. Our governments do not look beyond four years ahead, they make all sorts of unfounded assumptions (for example, that biomass and natural gas-free homes save CO2), and they do not take changing circumstances into account.
Incidentally, the new LNG terminals and nuclear power plants are prudent decisions. Otherwise we risk being left out in the cold in a year’s time and more coal-fired power plants will increase CO2 emissions. I do find it extremely worrying that we did not make these decisions eight years earlier. All the signs and knowledge to do so have been around for a long time. Since the Russian invasion of Crimea and definitely also when the foolish and implausible COP-26 ban on fossil investments was rolled out.
The energy debate has morphed into a politically correct vicious circle in which critical voices are dogmatically vilified. There are hardly any journalists, politicians and executives who dare to publicly stray from the official energy line. This is bad for our democracy, and leads to today’s ineffective and prohibitively expensive wavering policies. I toast to a New Year with more openness and an energy policy that is based on vision, facts and logic.
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