The fight against fossil fuels must be fought on the demand side. That energy expert Jilles van den Beukel from the Center for Strategic Studies in The Hague in BNR’s Big Five. Van den Beukel is thinking about CO2 pricing and reducing the amount of emission rights. “In the end, that’s it. It doesn’t matter how much people have to gobble up if they have to pay more at the pump and for the central heating boiler. If this has to be done faster, then faster.’
Fossil shortage
We will pay more, but according to Van den Beukel that was already the case, and not only because an energy transition is on the way, “but also because of the shortage of fossil fuels at the moment.” ‘The old story was always: there will be an energy transition, so there will be less demand for oil and gas, which will also become cheaper. But this is at best over a period of thirty years, but over a period of three or ten years we see a completely different development.’
According to Van den Beukel, there is little investment in fossil fuels, we are becoming “more dependent on countries we don’t want to depend on” and fossil energy is becoming more expensive rather than cheaper. “The cheap energy of the last decade is not coming back anytime soon and we have to get used to it.”
Nuclear power plants
In addition to this price, the energy expert supports investment in technological innovation. ‘Focus on reducing costs, support those initiatives that give us the possibility to achieve our long-term goals. Focusing less on national emission targets is not what this phase of the energy transition is about.’ Personally, Van den Beukel sees the new nuclear power plants as a solution; “In any case, support the European initiatives in this to get it off the ground”.
CO2 storage
Van den Beukel also thinks we should think about CCS, underground CO2 storage; ‘Think of it as sort of a utility, like you see a garbage collection service. Give existing companies that are not so free of a certain amount of CO2 the opportunity to get rid of it. for a fee”.
The Netherlands is now 85% fossil. When asked if this can be reduced to 50% in 10 years, Van den Beukel says this is “quite doable” and there is a lot we can do with the initiatives that are now being launched. Keeping the earth from warming more than a degree and a half is something Van den Beukel doesn’t think he will achieve.
Not 1.5 degrees
“We are not going to reach that degree and a half. I think the low is now 1.7 or 1.8. On the other hand, the upper limit also goes down. Some time ago we had a possible warming of one and a half to four degrees. Well, you really won’t get those three degrees, that’s on the bright side. Maybe the likely range now is 1.7 to 2.7, that order of magnitude.’
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Source: BNR
Andrew Dwight is an author and economy journalist who writes for 24 News Globe. He has a deep understanding of financial markets and a passion for analyzing economic trends and news. With a talent for breaking down complex economic concepts into easily understandable terms, Andrew has become a respected voice in the field of economics journalism.
