Trump’s Love for Oil & Gas | Australian Government vs. Renewables | Nuclear, for Climate’s Sake?

Dear Colleagues and Friends,

Although the climate crisis does, unfortunately, not even take one day off, we did take a short summer break and decided to make an exception and bundle two months into one summer newsletter covering July and August alike.

While the coronavirus pandemic itself and the fear of an upcoming “second wave” still keeps hovering over us, the first signs of economic decline can be observed worldwide. From a climate perspective, the political measures meant to re-stimulate the economy have been a great and, in most cases, a lost opportunity to steer our economies towards more sustainability, climate protection and towards a 100% renewable energy system. From the US to Australia (read about it in this newsletter), from China to South Africa – in many countries across the globe, the traditional energy sector, fossil fuels, has won the fight over COVID-19 recovery packages.

Global politics still is in a state of climate crisis denial, as put by the climate activists Greta Thunberg, Luisa Neubauer, Anuna De Wever and Adélaïde Charlier in their recent opinion piece for the Guardian (check out our Quote of the Month). Already before the crisis and even more so during the pandemic, governments haven’t taken appropriate measures to tackle the climate crisis. But you’d think, at least the European Union has increasingly acted as a climate frontrunner and paved the way towards a sustainable and renewable energy system? Well, not really: As shown by Investigate Europe, a team of independent journalists, Europe is sabotaging its own climate goals by heavily subsidizing the fossil industry, by more than 137$ billion a year.

But, and there’s no other way to phrase it, we are not without hope and neither you should you. That is why we continue our work to support the cause for climate action and lay the scientific foundation for a future energy system based on 100% renewables and that is why you should seriously consider supporting our crowdfunding campaign (read our call below). Other than that, our newsletter sheds light on the following topics:

• How President Trump endangers his relationship with the fossil industry by „clinging too much“
• How Australia is torn back and forth between the economic advantages of renewable energy and a government, which does everything in its power to stick to fossil fuels
• How nuclear energy is regaining momentum as a clean power source even though it will never be a viable alternative to renewable energy sources

That’s it for now and we leave you with our brand-new (bi-)monthly newsletter. Don’t forget: It is more important than ever to stay active, involved and informed – enjoy the reading!

Your EWG Team