Reinhard Loske was Environment Minister of Bremen, Germany’s smallest state, almost twenty years ago. There, during his political period, he promoted different measures to protect the ecosystem against the threat of climate change, which at that time was not talked about as much. For example, he was the one who first put a speed limit on his roads. Also, as a national leader of the Greens party, he favored the creation of a green tax or nuclear energy extinction programs.
Loske is now a professor at Herdecke University, but his voice remains a reference when it comes to climate and environmental issues. The German newspaper has recently published an interview with him to talk, among other things, about the intention of the president of the United States, so that
This issue has been talked about since September. The United States plans to drastically increase its exports of liquefied natural gas to the EU, as Trump aims to double local gas production and quadruple exports, in addition to building atomic power plants in Europe and, in the future, small modular reactors (SMR), as detailed by EFE.
The European Union also wants to buy more gas from the US to end Russian imports before 2028, and that is why it committed to acquiring 750 billion euros in US energy in three years. within the framework of a trade agreement that sets a 15% tariff.
According to statistics published by Bruegel, in 2021 the US share of gas supplies to the EU was less than 6%; By 2025 it had increased to over 26%.
But Washington sees some European regulations as problematic, including the methane regulation that requires oil and gas importers to monitor, report and limit methane emissions associated with their production and transportation, an aspect that the United States considers a trade barrier.
“If you want to move gas from the US into the EU, you have to change the regulatory framework” because These “extraterritorial” regulations are like telling companies “don’t do business here, said the secretary. The European Commissioner for Energy assured that the EU will not renounce its legislative sovereignty, but was open to adapting it.
Reinhard Loske believes that this is an absurd situation, since Europe doesn’t even need that much gas from the United States. “It is an arbitrary figure and, furthermore, crazy. It must be avoided at all costs. We would be crazy if, after having long depended on Russia, we put ourselves in the hands of the United States when it comes to liquefied natural gas. It is important that the EU maintains its current course. It may be possible to make certain modifications to emissions trading, the key instrument for reducing CO2 emissions. But the baseline must remain clear: efficiency, savings, renewable energy and minimization of emissions,” said the expert.
He adds: “There is no need to officially terminate the agreement at the moment, as it is part of an overall trade policy agreement. But we will not need these amounts of energy from the United States.”
A total of 125 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) called in an open letter to EU leaders in January to phase out US fossil fuels. Will Europe be able to resist the pressures of the almighty Trump?
