New Energy for Europe and its godfathers II

This is an article I wrote in November 2007 and which seems very relevant again in the current context of the Russian-Ukrainian Gas dispute.

Al Gore and Vladimir Putin are the godfathers of the EU’s fast emerging common energy and climate policy.
We must be thankful to them, although their godfatherly means of persuasion have been quite different.
Al Gore uncovered the inconvenient truth on climate change and created a global sense of urgency to fighting climate change. He did this through the means of personal persuasion, convening power, the use of media and public engagement which created pressure on policy makers. This message had a particularly strong resonance in Europe.
Vladimir Putin uncovered the inconvenient truth on Europe’s growing energy dependency and vulnerability of Russian supply, and he created a sense of urgency for the EU to diversity supply. He did this by cutting energy supply to Ukraine, Georgia and Belarus during the cold winter months and for political and economic reasons. This message also had a very strong resonance in Europe as supply to the EU was also affected.
It is very fortunate that these two godfathers made their case at roughly the same time and therefore helping the EU to connect previously separate discussions on energy security and climate change.
Thanks to these two godfathers Europe has moved at tremendous speed towards a Common European Energy Policy (which is actually also a climate policy) with specific targets on cutting CO2 by 20% by 2020, increasing energy efficiency by 20% and increasing the share of renewable energy to 20% by 2020. By the end of 2007 the EU will agree also specific ways of reaching these targets.
In the next two years the EU will reform its 100 billion annual budget and it is very likely that energy and climate issues will take a much higher share in the new EU budget, in terms of supporting the emerging policy framework through financial market incentives to move to a carbon low energy model.
But in the light of the accelerating effects of climate change and energy power games, Europe has a long way to go to meet these challenges both at European level and in order to play a global role in fighting climate change.
So, Europe will need Al Gore and Vladimir Putin to continue to use their godfatherly means of persuasion and help Europe to implement a more and more ambitious Common Energy and Climate Policy.
Concretely about the policy:

Europe should make energy and climate policy the key policy area for the years to come, both as an internal and external policy
This would be essentially a clearly self interest driven policy, but which will benefit both Europe and the world.

+Incite and support a technology and knowledge driven clean energy revolution. This should be the basis for a new European economic model to position Europe successfully in the times of globalisation, so that Europe can continue to provide peace, prosperity and security to its citizens. These were the founding principles of the EU and the reasons for its success.
By doing so, inciting a global race for a new, sustainable and profitable energy and economic model. As a European I wish that Europe will reap the benefits of the first mover. But in the interest of meeting the challenges of climate change, the best and fastest should make the race, and why not China.

+Europe as a global player. Pushing for global agreements on climate change suits Europe soft power mentality, based on the principle of leading by example.

+Assist affected areas in the developing world, particularly Africa, to deal with the affects of climate change and share the benefits of the technological revolution in Europe with the developing world.

+ Mitigate the negative effects of climate migration both regionally and to Europe

+Reduce dependency on carbon energy sources and their producers, therefore creating room for policy making without double standards both in the economic field and international politics

I played the Wii, and I liked it ...

Thanks to my friends Maya and Dominic I had my first Wii experience yesterday and, despite low expectations, I liked it a lot. In fact it was fun, communicative and quite athletic.

I have to admit that so far I considered computer games something for pale nerds with face2face communication problems living out their unrealized fantasies in front of a PC screen. I know this is (probably) unjust.

Of course I know that things have moved on, especially since my son Max, now 11, plays computer games with total ease and he is certainly not a shy boy in the real world. Still I thought this is not for me, I am a real world person.

But with the Wii the lines between the real and the virtual world are becoming more blurred. Now both can involve real sweat and Muskelkater (muscle strain). Add a solarium lamp to the Wii and you will even get a tan while playing Wii tennis.

This is now and this is fun. But I was already thinking ahead. Will we be moving towards a hybrid world of real and virtual, where the virtual kicks in when the real runs out or when it does not deliver anymore? For example, you can start of your skiing holiday in Switzerland in real life and switch to the virtual when the snow melts. And in the latter case, we may have to go virtual anyway as the climate changes.

But why travel at all? Everything can be done from home, not just ordering food and books but also playing tennis, flying, driving, swimming and fighting the baddies with James Bond.

Could this even be a way of dealing with inequalities? If you can’t afford skiing, golfing, sailing, flying in real life, you can get it in virtual life.

As technology develops the difference between real and virtual world may even become difficult to distinguish and one will need a disclaimer on what is real and what is not, along the lines ‘Please be aware that you now enter the real world and your service provider will not be liable for any damages encountered.’

But before I get carried away let me put in a few more Wii sessions and then report back.