outsourcing

Clean Energy From North Africa | Earth Wise

April 7, 2023 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Europe is hungry for clean energy. The war in Ukraine has amplified Europe’s desire to end its reliance on Russian natural gas. Increasingly, Europe is pushing to install giant solar energy farms in sunny North Africa and transport the energy through underwater cables.

Solar panels in sunny North Africa generate up to three times more energy than those in Europe. As a result, solar farms and wind farms as well are proliferating south of the Mediterranean Sea. Morocco’s Noor and Egypt’s Benban solar farms are among the largest in the world. Many of these farms were initially built to boost domestic power supplies and reduce dependence on coal. But now these farms are increasingly supplying green energy to industrial neighbors in Europe.

Morocco has signed deals with the European Union to expand power exports. Egypt is considering proposals for cables to link to Greece. Another planned cable would link new solar farms in Tunisia to Italy’s grid. These projects would certainly bring money and jobs to North African countries, but it isn’t all good news.

There are growing concerns about the environmental impacts of Europe outsourcing its energy needs. Desert ecosystems could be greatly compromised. And much of this development is likely to happen with only minimal community consultation or ecological assessment. Half of Africa’s population does not have access to reliable power grids. Electricity becoming a major export is not likely to improve this situation.

Europe has long obtained many resources from the developing world. Now it is tapping into the sunshine and wind in other lands. It remains to be seen if North Africa’s countries will achieve the large potential gains those resources can offer them.

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In Scramble for Clean Energy, Europe Is Turning to North Africa

Photo, posted October 17, 2019, courtesy of Richard Allaway via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Europe’s Green Deal: Bad For The Planet? | Earth Wise

December 28, 2020 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

In 2019, the European Union announced the “Green Deal,” a comprehensive program aimed at making Europe the first climate-neutral continent, implementing environmentally friendly transport, increasing recycling, and expanding renewable energy.

The Green Deal involves significant changes to European agriculture. Over the next ten years, under the ambitious environmental program, at least a quarter of all agricultural areas will be farmed organically, the use of fertilizers and pesticides greatly reduced, 3 billion trees planted, 15,000 miles of rivers restored, and the population declines of pollinators reversed.

However, in a recent article published in Nature, scientists at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology show that this Green Deal might actually be a bad deal for the planet.

The problem is that the EU is likely to basically be outsourcing environmental damage by its high imports of agricultural products.

According to the Karlsruhe study, the EU annually imports millions of tons of agricultural products, as much as 20% of its produce and much of its meat and dairy products. Quite often, these imports come from countries whose environmental laws are far less stringent than those in Europe.

The EU cannot impose environmental standards on other countries, but it can demand that goods entering the European market meet EU requirements. The study points out that Europe’s carbon footprint has to be evaluated on a global basis. If the EU is truly to become a climate-neutral continent, it must include foreign trade goals and requirements in its environmental programs. Otherwise, Europe will simply be outsourcing its environmental problems and will continue to cause damage to the planet.

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Green Deal: Good for a Climate-neutral Europe – Bad for the Planet

Photo, posted July 17, 2009, courtesy of Edmund Garman via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Outsourcing Our Emissions

October 9, 2015 By EarthWise

The average American is responsible for one of the largest carbon footprints in the world. Some 37% of our carbon emissions is associated with electricity generation; 33% stems from transportation – largely personal automobiles. The remaining 30% is attributed to industry, residential use, and agriculture.