Thomas O’Donnell made the claim in an interview with Polish state news agency PAP.
The US economist, who lectures at the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin, said that Germany’s energy-security policy had long been based on two pillars, the PAP news agency reported.
The first pillar was a model of global energy transition (Energiewende) where "100 percent of energy would be obtained from renewable sources, without any contribution from nuclear energy and fossil fuels," he said, as quoted by PAP on Thursday.
Germany had "regarded this as the only 'green' solution to the problem of climate change," according to O’Donnell.
'Selfish economic interest'
He said that the second pillar of Berlin’s energy policy was “reliance on Russia for the import of cheap natural gas,” which entailed “the primacy of Germany’s selfish economic interest over the energy security of Ukraine, Poland and Eastern Europe.”
O’Donnell stated: “This pillar collapsed when Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his aggression against Ukraine.”
According to the US expert, in the new situation, “Germany hasn’t rejected or modified its Energiewende,” but stepped up efforts “to portray this policy as a way to avoid geopolitical risk.”
However, a series of independent studies have shown that “Germany will never be able to meet its energy needs exclusively from domestic renewable sources,” O’Donnell added.
‘Green neocolonialism’
He said in the interview that the German government was encouraging domestic firms to build wind farms and solar stations abroad, and then export electricity to Germany, either directly or as "green hydrogen."
O’Donnell claimed that Germany had also been pressing various crisis-ridden countries, such as Ukraine, Mauritania, Iraq and Chile, “to become gigantic wind farms or solar stations.”
O’Donnell told the PAP news agency that these efforts by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and his Economy Minister Robert Habeck “reflect a new ‘green neocolonial’ approach that ignores the real, urgent problems of the local population."
O’Donnell also argued that "green hydrogen imported from far away countries is inefficient and counterproductive when it comes to climate protection," the PAP news agency reported.
Thursday is day 435 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, tvp.info, energetyka24.pl