Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
passed through. It is now one of the biggest producers of hydrogen cell cars; a
leader in desalination technology; and has the world
s biggest wind farm. Over half
the solar panels in use in the EU now originate from China.
38
Some of the most
notable green commitments are unfolding outside Europe. Abu Dhabi is building
the world
'
rst zero-carbon city, for example.
DG Energy has recognised that the Strategic Energy Technology Plan must be
vastly upgraded.
39
'
s
In early 2011, energy commissioner Gunther Öttinger worried
that
At present, research and development are chronically underfunded in the EU.
We risk missing the boat if there is a boom in the markets for new energy tech-
nologies.
'
'
40
China
'
s crisis-busting stimulus package allocated a higher share of
resources to low carbon projects than did any EU member state
s rescue package.
Indeed, European leaders have explicitly recognised that China
'
'
ve-year
plan overtakes the EU in terms of investment commitments in green technology.
41
In Spain renewables jobs have halved in the recession. The UK
s new
'
s
agship carbon
capture and storage (CCS) project has been continually delayed.
So, how is the EU dealing with these mixed trends in its international geo-
economic standing in renewables? There are some signs of the EU assuming an
admirably pro-active role in promoting international cooperation in and sharing of
low carbon technology. The EU is now setting up an international forum to
cooperate on low carbon technologies, to include a large number of international
partners, based, it says, on
.
42
An EU
GCC Clean Energy
Network has been set up to share research in renewables. Euratom is collaborating
with the US, Japan, China, India, Russia and Korea on a fusion generator; some
predict that hydrogen fusion could become the key method of sustainable energy
generation in the long term.
43
The September 2011 Commission strategy on external energy policy highlighted
new commitments in support of renewable energy sources beyond the EU
'
win
-
win reciprocity
'
-
s bor-
ders. These included a range of new international partnership agreements that
included cooperation on renewables as their
'
aim; an initiative to encou-
rage other forums such as the G20 to prioritise global rules on renewables devel-
opment; reciprocity in access to renewables research programmes; an extension of
the Energy Charter treaty
'
primary
'
'
s mandate to include rules on the renewables sector; a
widening of the EU Energy Initiative on access to energy in Africa for the
rst
time to include assistance on renewables; a strategic group for International Energy
Cooperation made up of member states and Commission representatives; and a
database of member states
energy projects in third countries.
44
A central aim was
to combine renewables cooperation and broader economic support for growth,
elements so far divorced from each other within European policies.
45
In a sporadic sense, issues related to renewables are increasingly creeping into the
broader panoply of European external relations. As a possible harbinger of future
'
