Page 29 - bne monthly magazine June 2024 Russian Despair Index

bne June 2024 Companies & Markets I 29
parliamentary procedures to enhance legislative efficiency.
Projections indicate that the Caspian Sea's water levels could drop by 9 to 18 metres by the end of the century, potentially reducing its surface area by 23 to 34%.
Such a decline would have catastrophic ecological and human impacts, including the desiccation of major areas like the northern Caspian shelf and coastal regions.
In June 2023, government officials in Kazakhstan raised the alarm over what they said is the critically low level of the Caspian Sea.
City hall in Aktau, the capital of the western Mangystau region, said in a statement on June 8 that it was declaring a state of emergency over a situation that poses a grave risk to the maritime industry.
The retreat of the Caspian Sea from Kazakhstan’s coast began in 2005. Since then, the level has dropped by one-and-a-half meters. And yet whenever environmentalists and activists have shared their concerns by posting photos and videos
of the exposed, stone-strewn seabed extending at times for hundreds of meters to the shoreline, the authorities have largely been mute.
European election results could spell
further backtracking on climate policy
Newsbase
Critics of Ursula von der Leyen's climate policy say it has exacerbated the energy crisis and Europe’s resulting deindustrialisation.
WHAT: The upcoming European parliamentary elections will have a significant bearing on future EU climate policy.
WHY: There has been a backlash against climate policy in light of the energy crisis and resulting deindustrialisation.
WHAT NEXT: There could be further backtracking on policy if predictions of a shift in Parliament to the far right materialise.
Results from the European Parliament elections next month could have major implications for the EU Green Deal and other climate policy, with far-right politicians expected to win more seats.
The elections, due to take place on June 6-9, will be followed by negotiations by lawmakers over who should take the
top positions in Brussels, including the presidency of the European Commission. Current President Ursula von der Leyen has presided over a very ambitious climate agenda, enshrined in the European Green Deal, introduced within two months of the start of her presidency in December 2019. At its core, the deal set the goal of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 55% by 2030, versus 1990 levels, and bringing them to net zero by 2050.
However, the 2022 energy crisis and soaring high gas and power prices has led to a reassessment of green goals. Those against von der Leyen’s agenda argue that not enough attention has been paid to energy security and affordability,
exacerbating the crisis triggered by Russia’s drastic cuts to European gas supply. Cuts in investment in natural gas supply also led to a resurgence in coal use, causing some reversal of progress.
The EU is also struggling to keep on track with its lofty targets. As of 2022, its GHG emissions were down only 32.5% versus 1990 levels, meaning there is also a significant way to go.
At the same time, the European economy is stagnating, primarily because of high energy prices, leading to calls for more focus on economic growth rather than sustainability. European industry has become less competitive versus industry in places with cheaper energy such as the US and China.
The vice president of the current Commission, Maros Sefcovic, lamented at the poor state of affairs at an informal meeting of EU energy ministers in April, noting that the
bloc was paying three to four times more for its natural gas than China and the US, putting huge pressure on its energy- intensive industry. High energy prices were also driving high inflation in Europe, he said, adding that the energy crisis had cost the European economy some €1 trillion ($1.06 trillion).
One of the countries hardest hit by the energy crisis has been Germany, whose industry used to rely on ample supply of Russian gas. That supply ended in autumn 2022 following the rupturing of the Nord Stream pipelines, and Germany has been scrambling to build up its LNG import capacity to replace it. Germany’s chemicals sector in particular has been badly affected, given its high gas use, and is now mired in a deep recession.
German chemical production dropped by 10.6% in 2023, to its lowest level since 1995, according to data released by the country’s federal statistics agency, while total production
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