China dependence to make EU’s green transition more costly - Hoekstra
www.euronews.com
Hoekstra warns China dependence will make the EU’s green transition more costly, saying there is “no alternative” to levelling the playing field. #EuropeNews

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/11044567

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Europe must accept higher short-term costs to reduce its dependence on China for clean-energy technologies, EU Climate Action Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra has told Euronews, warning that delaying action will make the strategic vulnerability harder and more expensive to unwind.

The EU should have confronted its reliance on China “five to ten years ago”, Hoekstra said, arguing that waiting longer would bring greater disruption and costs.

“But it will be much cheaper and much more to our advantage to do it now than be wishy washy and wait another five to 10 years,” the Dutch Commissioner said.

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“This will stay with us for years to come, because the dependencies in many domains have simply become too large,” he said, describing the situation as a “dangerous and uncomfortable” vulnerability for both Europe’s climate ambitions and economic security.

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Tensions [between the EU and China] have intensified as Brussels has taken measures to protect the European market, targeting Chinese companies over issues including illegal products, state subsidies and foreign investment. Beijing has threatened retaliation.

Hoekstra pointed to Europe’s solar industry as a warning of what can happen when domestic production loses out to heavily subsidised Chinese imports.

But the Commissioner went further, raising concerns about alleged Chinese interference and security risks involving critical infrastructure in Europe.

“Kill switches are being included in windmills. Espionage happens at a very high degree on European soil. Intellectual property theft in our most advanced companies happens on a weekly basis and on and on and on — that is something no government and the EU can simply allow,” he said.

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The goal is … to ensure that Europe is no longer vulnerable to a single external supplier for technologies critical to its energy transition.

The challenge, Hoekstra said, is to build European capacity now — even if doing so comes with higher costs in the short term.

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Archived

  • humanspiral@lemmy.ca
    21·
    7 hours ago

    Weird for EU climate chief to talk like CIA fossil fuel import agent. No kill switches have been found. Europe does have a lot of strong wind technology companies though, but solar has the cost advantage, and EU should take Chinese solar (unless they have specific plan to provide value) even if they invest in local wind.

    • tardigradeOP
      1·
      2 hours ago

      Weird for EU climate chief to talk like CIA fossil fuel import agent. No kill switches have been found.

      @humanspiral@lemmy.ca

      China Holds a Kill Switch to European Power Grids

      … A critical portion of Europe’s solar systems is connected to remote management platforms developed by Chinese companies, hosted on Chinese servers, and bound by Chinese law. At the center of this control lies the solar inverter – the device that acts as the digital brain of a solar system. It converts electricity generated by solar panels into usable power, while also connecting the system to external platforms for monitoring, remote management, software updates, and control …

      Rogue communication devices found in Chinese solar power inverters

      • Rogue communication devices found in Chinese solar inverters
      • Undocumented cellular radios also found in Chinese batteries
      • U.S. says continually assesses risk with emerging technology
      • U.S. working to integrate ‘trusted equipment’ into the grid

      The Power Inverter Kill Switch Story Underscores the Importance of Cybersecurity and the Supply Chain

      These are just a few examples.

      In general it’s a typical tankie trait to deny the existence of kill switches and remote control in Chinese technology, while they frequently warn about the same remote control features in any other tech.

  • UnfortunateShort@lemmy.worldEnglish
    7·
    19 hours ago

    Remember when Germany was leading in renewable tech, then everything went to shit or abroad because we rather subsidized fossile fuels?

    It is this kind of corruption/incompetence and the misinformation accompanying it that bites us now and drives people to populists. And it’s not just the politicians to blame. This was a process spanning decades. They could have been voted out but were not.