Germany has once again decided that its Green Agenda trumps the crippling energy crisis, with the country’s climate minister dismissing fracking as a way of obtaining much-needed gas.
Fracking has been dismissed as an alternative method of sourcing much-needed gas in Germany due to the country’s Green Agenda, with one of the country’s many green party ministers ruling the tech out over environmental concerns. Meanwhile, the country remains reliant on huge quantities of imported Russian gas with no serious alternative on the table besides crashing the economy.
Climate Minister Robert Habeck spoke out against the technology at a time of significant energy insecurity for Germany, which is relying on natural gas from now hostile Russia in order to keep the lights on.
However, despite this, Der Spiegel reports that Habeck seems to have little interest in fracking as a way of alleviating pressure, despite the fact the technology would allow Germany to tap into domestic gas reserves.
“In the North German lowlands we are sitting on a large amount of gas that can only be accessed with fracking,” Habeck is reported as saying by the publication.
“So you would have to destroy deep layers of rock with great pressure and chemical substances in order to extract the gas,” he continued.
“This is difficult… it can have negative consequences for our environment,” he went on to claim. “At the moment there are no organisations that want that.”
While rejecting fracking as a method of obtaining gas, Habeck also warned strongly against a possible embargo on Russian gas, which his nation is now addicted to.
This is despite the move being heavily endorsed by many within the European Union, a political bloc that the current German government has often aligned itself with.
“An immediate gas embargo would endanger social peace in Germany,” the green party member said, obliquely referencing Germany’s crippling addiction to Russian gas supplies and, presumably, societal breakdown if the lights went out.
“So we have to act prudently, prepare the steps carefully and be able to stick with them if we want to harm Putin,” he continued.
Despite the calls for prudence, the actions of German authorities from afar appear to be everything but when it comes to the ongoing energy crisis, with the country shutting down coal and nuclear power plants left and right despite the fact that the nation could soon lose access to its Russian gas supply.
The shutdowns — which form part of the nation’s green agenda — come at a time when German industry has been warning that a loss of gas supply would be crippling, while a steep recession for Germany appears almost certain should gas lines be cut.
Meanwhile, inflation over sharp increases in food and gas prices have left German consumers reeling, with some shops hiking the prices of certain food products by up to 50 per cent in response to the crisis.
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