Page 7 - AsiaElec Week 09 2022

AsiaElec COMMENTARY AsiaElec

Russia’s hopes of switching

oil and gas exports to China

could be dashed by Beijing’s

net-zero commitments

CHINA BEIJING’S commitment to reach net zero by “After all, the events of recent days and weeks
2060 could reduce the potential for Moscow to have shown us that responsible, forward-looking
redirect its gas and oil exports away from Europe energy policy is not just crucial for our economy
towards China. and our climate. It is also crucial for our secu-
It will be neither quick nor easy for Moscow rity. This means that the faster we make progress
to pivot its energy exports from west to east, with the development of renewable energies, the
Wood Mackenzie Vice Chairman for Energy in better,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told the
Asia Pacific Gavin Thompson said. German Parliament
Any move towards China comes as Europe is Russia has already invested massively in
looking to reduce its reliance on energy imports upstream production and export infrastruc-
from Russia, as direct result of the Russian inva- ture to supply China, Thompson noted, backed
sion of Ukraine on February 24. by eye-watering loans from Chinese banks
“A strong European Union cannot be so reli- and long-term contracts with Chinese energy
ant on an energy supplier that threatens to start a companies.
war on our continent,” said European Commis- China now gets around 14% of its crude
sion President Ursula von der Leyen. imports from Russia. And while only 7% of its
For example, Germany has already brought total gas demand is currently met though the
forward plans to accelerate its green energy tran- Power of Siberia pipeline and Russian LNG, Chi-
sition to wean itself of Russian gas. na’s gas imports from Russia are rising rapidly.
Germany will now aim at 100% renewables A symbiotic energy relationship between
in electricity generation by 2035, compared to Russia and China looks strategically compelling,
a previous goal of all-renewables “well before Thompson said.
2040.” Chinese economic expansion means that for

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