{"id":398411,"date":"2025-08-28T11:33:51","date_gmt":"2025-08-28T09:33:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=398411"},"modified":"2025-08-28T11:33:53","modified_gmt":"2025-08-28T09:33:53","slug":"green-europes-industrial-masochism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=398411","title":{"rendered":"‘Green’ Europe’s Industrial Masochism"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"A<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Watts Up With That<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Guest essay by Dr. Samuele Furfari<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If a self-described leader finds that nobody is following, is leadership present? Perhaps. The next question might be, where is the leader headed?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These queries could well be put to the European Union\u2019s makers of energy policy, who fancy themselves as groundbreakers for a supposed transition away from fossil fuels in favor of \u201cgreen\u201d technologies. (We use qualifying quotation marks because wind turbines and solar panels have plenty of environmental downsides.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, according to recent Energy Institute<\/a> data, European leaders are driving not a bandwagon onto which the world is jumping but rather a hearse toward self-destruction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

EU policy choices have led to so-called renewable sources\u2009\u2013\u2009primarily wind and solar \u2013 constituting more than one-third of the European electricity mix, surpassing coal by a significant margin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Globally, renewables are growing rapidly in absolute terms. In 2024, wind, solar and other renewables contributed 5.6% to the global energy mix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the growth in renewables is not keeping pace with rising global energy demand. Over the past decade, fossil fuel consumption increased more than seven times faster than the growth of renewables. Contrary to the narrative often presented by media, coal production has increased, rising more than 10% in the last decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fossil fuels \u2013 coal, oil and natural gas \u2013 accounted for 87% of the world\u2019s energy in 2024, while renewables\u2019 share remains in single digits despite more than $5 trillion<\/a> being spent on wind and solar in the last 20 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year, global energy supply increased by nearly 2%, driven by rising demand for all types of energy. Accounting for 65% of the increase was the Asia-Pacific region, which represents 47% of the world\u2019s energy consumption and where 83% of the coal is burned and reigns as king of fuel sources. Together, China, India and Indonesia produced 71% of the globe\u2019s coal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the last 10 years EU energy demand has decreased by almost 6 exajoules (EJ), while worldwide use has increased by 13 times \u2013 almost 77 exajoules EJ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, EU \u201cleadership\u201d has managed to decrease European energy use and increase the role of renewables on the continent. But at what cost?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn 2008, the U.S. and Eurozone economies were about the same size,\u201d writes\u00a0Andy Kessler<\/a>\u00a0in the Wall Street Journal. \u201cSince 2010, Europe\u2019s per capita gross domestic product (GDP) has basically flatlined<\/em><\/strong>. Today, the U.S. nominal GDP per capita is almost twice as large as Europe\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rather than undergoing the global EnergieWende imposed by Germany, the world is growing economically and in a phase of adding new sources to existing ones rather than replacing them. (See my paper \u201cEnergy Addition, Not Transition<\/a>\u201d for a fuller discussion.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given that most of the world\u2019s population aspires to greater prosperity\u2009\u2013\u2009and therefore cheap, abundant energy\u2009as desired by the EU before its conversion to ecologism \u2013\u2009it is highly unlikely that these trends will be reversed. Economic and social imperatives, as well as the need for secure energy supplies, make a reduction of fossil fuels demand improbable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a result, the gap between ill-advised climate ambitions and the reality of global energy consumption will only widen further. Failure to meet announced climate targets is now so obvious that it is reasonable to anticipate an abandonment of the Paris Agreement, as it will become increasingly difficult to conceal the scale of this failure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paradoxically, while the latest edition of the Energy Institute\u2019s Statistical Review of World Energy<\/a> clearly demonstrates this failure, the European Commission continues to propose utopian targets, such as a 90% reduction in its own emissions by 2040.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reality is that European industry is withering away, jobs are moving elsewhere, and citizens are growing tired of footing the bill for a climate policy that is inevitably leading to economic suicide. Yes, the EU may achieve net zero, but it will be zero across the board: zero industry, zero prosperity and zero global influence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, there you have it: the EU, champion of policies that can make no difference in the climate \u2013 and of industrial masochism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Samuele Furfari<\/em><\/a> <\/em>is a professor of energy geopolitics in Brussels and London, a former senior official with the <\/em>European Commission\u2019s Directorate-General for Energy and a member of the <\/em>CO2<\/sub><\/em> <\/em>Coalition<\/em><\/a>. He is author of the paper, \u201c<\/em>Energy Addition, Not Transition<\/em><\/a>,\u201d and 18 books, including \u201cEnergy Insecurity: The organised destruction of the EU\u2019s competitiveness.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If a self-described leader finds that nobody is following, is leadership present? Perhaps. The next question might be, where is the leader headed?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":398413,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","advanced_seo_description":"Explore the paradox of EU energy policy: ambitious green goals vs. a reality of declining industry and rising fossil fuel demand.","jetpack_seo_html_title":"The EU's Green Energy Policies: Economic Self-Sabotage?","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691831593,691819142,691827234,691824448,691818376,691818154,691819148,691819094,691837590],"class_list":["post-398411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-energiewende-energy-transition-2","tag-energy-policy","tag-european-union-eu","tag-gross-domestic-product-gdp","tag-natural-gas","tag-net-zero","tag-oil-and-gas","tag-renewable-green-energy","tag-self-destruction","fallback-thumbnail"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/AQPQaac8NLNiiqnpJyGa_LBl3e7O_w-pW84gECAaiukR6Wz2Aq-lexFtZMG9EEGAkbYYnc9igZnm7Y33pouJhP6dwk0GUC2CyIPja_YT-uiZ4-t7RA8BPE7It1jGBePPeZ5g1WKTHi4u4k5FI2xBN0PSVjKD.jpeg?fit=1280%2C1280&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1FDZ","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":297073,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=297073","url_meta":{"origin":398411,"position":0},"title":"Status Report From Another Would Be “Climate Leader,” The UK","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"01\/19\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"At any given moment in the course of human events, not everyone can be the leader. 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