The European Union needs to take military requirements into account more flexibly in the implementation of its climate policy, since under conditions of full-scale war, critical military equipment, logistics, and backup energy supply continue to depend on fossil fuels.
This was stated in a comment to Guildhall by Senator of the Republic of Poland Kazimierz Michał Ujazdowski.
According to him, “we live in exceptional times,” and therefore the EU should expect “certain adjustments to climate policy,” which should be “less dogmatic and therefore more flexible.” The senator stressed that “there are no electric tanks or other critically important military vehicles,” and that such systems still “depend on fossil fuels.”
That is why, he noted, “there should be a list of oil refineries and other critical facilities exempt from the costly requirements of the energy transition.” According to him, this is especially important against the background that “over the past 20 years, more than 20 oil refineries have already been closed in Europe.”
The senator also pointed to the experience of Ukraine. “A full-scale war requires enormous volumes of diesel fuel and other types of fuel,” he said. According to him, this is evident in the case of Ukraine, where “diesel consumption remains high compared to the pre-war period,” despite the fact that “around 7 million people have left the country and Ukraine’s GDP has declined significantly.”
In addition, he noted that “fossil fuels are also critically important in wartime for electricity generators used by residents and small and medium-sized enterprises.”
Earlier, Irish MEP Barry Andrews stated that nuclear energy remains part of the future EU energy mix, although it is neither a quick nor a cheap answer to current challenges. According to him, without nuclear energy, it will be difficult for the European Union to achieve its emissions reduction targets, while small modular reactors are already being considered as part of a future solution.
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