How Geopolitical Shifts Could Impact Net-Zero Ambitions, Energy Sovereignty
Recent geopolitical events have left many countries worldwide questioning the sustainability of allowing volatile international politics and external factors affect their energy security. The past couple of years have underscored just how vulnerable the global-energy supply chain is to geopolitical events and shown countries that they will have to fortify their supply chains.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 was a major wake-up call for some of the largest economies on the globe. With many European nations condemning the attack and calling for the Kremlin to withdraw from Ukraine, Russia cut natural gas supplies to the rest of Europe and left those countries scrambling to find alternative energy supplies.
For several European Union countries, this meant turning back to fossil fuels and using coal-fired power plants to supply their energy deficits. While many environmental groups acknowledged that the Russia-Ukraine conflict threw the global energy industry into disarray, they condemned these nations for turning to fossil fuels instead of renewable sources to meet their energy needs.
More than two years after the armed conflict began, it is clear that unseen geopolitical shifts have the ability to impact energy sovereignty and net-zero ambitions significantly. With countries such as Russia playing an increasingly larger role in the worldwide energy sector, the ability of countries to manage and control energy policies and resources independently of foreign influence has diminished.
For instance, Russia has built an energy monopoly thanks to its vast natural gas and oil reserves that allows it to assert its geopolitical interests and influence the worldwide energy market, often in a negative way. As a result, nations are recognizing the need to make their economies less reliant on foreign players, especially in critical industries such as energy.
This means investing heavily in green-energy infrastructure to ensure countries can supply their energy needs with renewables such as wind and solar with little influence from foreign players. The Biden administration launched a $7 billion grant competition program to provide millions of homes in disadvantaged and low-income communities access to clean solar energy via the Inflation Reduction Act.
The program would reduce energy costs, accelerate environmental justice, deal with the escalating climate crisis and create high-quality employment opportunities for economically disenfranchised communities. On the other hand, former President Donald Trump has thrown his weight behind a “Drill, Drill, Drill” narrative and would likely adopt a profossil fuel approach when creating policies to push U.S. energy sovereignty.
While such an approach would certainly reduce the country’s reliance on foreign players for energy supplies, it would also impact natural habitats, surrounding communities and America’s climate-change fight immensely.
On a brighter note, many for-profit businesses such as First Tellurium Inc. (CSE: FTEL) (OTCQB: FSTTF) are focusing on availing the needed green-energy metals locally or from friendly countries so that the reliance on supply chains from potentially hostile sources is reduced.
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to First Tellurium Corp. (CSE: FTEL) (OTCQB: FSTTF) are available in the company’s newsroom at https://ibn.fm/FSTTF
Please see full terms of use and disclaimers on the GreenEnergyStocks website applicable to all content provided by GES, wherever published or re-published: https://www.greennrgstocks.com/Disclaimer
Recent geopolitical events have left many countries worldwide questioning the sustainability of allowing volatile international politics and external factors affect their energy security. The past couple of years have underscored just how vulnerable the global-energy supply chain is to geopolitical events and shown countries that they will have to fortify their supply chains.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 was a major wake-up call for some of the largest economies on the globe. With many European nations condemning the attack and calling for the Kremlin to withdraw from Ukraine, Russia cut natural gas supplies to the rest of Europe and left those countries scrambling to find alternative energy supplies.
For several European Union countries, this meant turning back to fossil fuels and using coal-fired power plants to supply their energy deficits. While many environmental groups acknowledged that the Russia-Ukraine conflict threw the global energy industry into disarray, they condemned these nations for turning to fossil fuels instead of renewable sources to meet their energy needs.
More than two years after the armed conflict began, it is clear that unseen geopolitical shifts have the ability to impact energy sovereignty and net-zero ambitions significantly. With countries such as Russia playing an increasingly larger role in the worldwide energy sector, the ability of countries to manage and control energy policies and resources independently of foreign influence has diminished.
For instance, Russia has built an energy monopoly thanks to its vast natural gas and oil reserves that allows it to assert its geopolitical interests and influence the worldwide energy market, often in a negative way. As a result, nations are recognizing the need to make their economies less reliant on foreign players, especially in critical industries such as energy.
This means investing heavily in green-energy infrastructure to ensure countries can supply their energy needs with renewables such as wind and solar with little influence from foreign players. The Biden administration launched a $7 billion grant competition program to provide millions of homes in disadvantaged and low-income communities access to clean solar energy via the Inflation Reduction Act.
The program would reduce energy costs, accelerate environmental justice, deal with the escalating climate crisis and create high-quality employment opportunities for economically disenfranchised communities. On the other hand, former President Donald Trump has thrown his weight behind a “Drill, Drill, Drill” narrative and would likely adopt a profossil fuel approach when creating policies to push U.S. energy sovereignty.
While such an approach would certainly reduce the country’s reliance on foreign players for energy supplies, it would also impact natural habitats, surrounding communities and America’s climate-change fight immensely.
On a brighter note, many for-profit businesses such as First Tellurium Inc. (CSE: FTEL) (OTCQB: FSTTF) are focusing on availing the needed green-energy metals locally or from friendly countries so that the reliance on supply chains from potentially hostile sources is reduced.
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to First Tellurium Corp. (CSE: FTEL) (OTCQB: FSTTF) are available in the company’s newsroom at https://ibn.fm/FSTTF
Please see full terms of use and disclaimers on the GreenEnergyStocks website applicable to all content provided by GES, wherever published or re-published: https://www.greennrgstocks.com/Disclaimer
