Prague, Dec 15 (CTK) – The Czech Republic needs a change in its energy thinking, because it continues relying on coal in spite of the state energy plan and the pledges it made at the recent world climate conference in Paris, Petr Fischer writes in daily Hospodarske noviny (HN) Tuesday.
After the states signed an agreement in Paris last week, Czech Environment Minister Richard Brabec´s shining face made the impression of the Czech Republic being one of the world´s leaders in fighting global warming. He said the agreement means no change for Prague, which has pursued the policy of emission reduction for a long time now, Fischer writes.
However, Brabec´s assertion is far from reality, and he must be well aware of it, Fischer writes.
The Czech Republic can hardly reduce the burden of 12 tonnes of carbon dioxide per capita in a couple of years. It cannot reach the outlined goal of seven tonnes, i.e. the EU average, before a cabinet to follow the next one comes in power, not even if the parliament passed Brabec´s bill limiting the fossil energy sources, Fischer writes.
The bill, however, is far from sure to succeed, because a strong energy lobby in the cabinet and parliament struggles for fossil fuels being used in the years to come, too, Fischer writes.
He gives the “very problematic” reopening of several coal power plants instead of their closure, and the state´s recent decision to partly lift the brown coal mining limits in north Bohemia as evidence proving the lobby´s struggle.
Industry and Trade Minister Jan Mladek (Social Democrats, CSSD), like any future industry minister from any of the mainstream political parties, will strive to keep coal in the game for economic, social as well as influence reasons. This trend, however, is opposite to what 196 world countries, including the Czech Republic, agreed on in Paris, Fischer writes.
Brabec´s statement that Prague “need not change anything” can therefore be understood as a mockery of the Paris agreement, because the Czech energy policy is different in proclamations and in reality, Fischer writes.
While the state energy plan projects a slow rise in the proportion of atom and renewable sources at the cost of coal-fired power plants, the Paris agreement requires a faster change. It should be mainly a change to thinking, to the core of the state energy plan, which should be based on the Paris idea of a world where people save energy in order not to drown or suffocate as a result of global warming, Fischer writes.
If the human world were to survive in future, the future must start now. The present Czech government should start working on it, if Brabec meant his statements seriously. The Czech government should abandon coal once and for all and open the door to a low-carbon world, Fischer writes.
After Paris, the Czechs need an “Energiewende,” not their typical statement that the Czech Republic, progressing together with the advanced world, will apply specific methods of its own because coal is and will remain its black and brown gold, Fischer concludes.
