Environment groups' legal action against gas projects imperils EU energy independence: Analyst

By Murat Temizer

ANKARA (AA) – Legal action by environment groups against several gas projects in Europe jeopardizes the continent’s push to reduce energy dependence on Russia, according to an energy analyst.

ClientEarth and three other groups – Friends of the Earth Europe, Food and Water Action Europe, and CEE Bankwatch Network – announced this week that they have started legal action against the EU Commission for backing gas projects.

They accuse the commission of “breaching its own climate and energy laws by including 30 gas projects” in its list of “energy infrastructure projects that are deemed beneficial to the EU.”

“ClientEarth uses environmental arguments, but it is worth remembering that the Kremlin does not care about nature and murders people,” said Wojciech Jakobik from the Jagiellonian Institute in Poland, one of the eight countries where ClientEarth has an office.

Among the projects is the Baltic Pipe, which will carry Norwegian natural gas to Poland.

Jakobik, who is also the editor of Biznesalert, a publication focused on key energy and infrastructure issues in Poland, said he was “surprised” by the stance.

“The Baltic Pipe and other gas supply diversification projects are necessary to break dependence on Russia,” he said.

“It would be best to abandon all fossil projects tomorrow, but for now it would just end up with more gas coming from Russia.”

According to ClientEarth, the cost of all projects on the current EU Commission list “amounts to €13 billion (around $13.75 billion) in EU taxpayer money.”

“Methane and CO2 emissions are harder to estimate – because the Commission and the project owners have not calculated them properly – but they will undoubtedly be sky high,” the group, which operates in more than 50 countries, warned in its June 7 statement.