Nikos Mantzaris, Senior Policy Analyst at the Green Tank, gave an interview to Machi Tratsa with regard to Green Tank’s new analysis titled “Electricity production & independence from Russian gas in Greece”.
The focus of the interview was on the results of the analysis which was based on four scenarios examining the alternatives that Greece has to decouple from Russian gas.
The questions raised concerned mainly Greece’s dependence on Russian fossil gas compared with other EU-27 Member States, and how renewables can achieve a reduction of this dependence.
In addition, emphasis was placed on the possible – even temporary – return to lignite, which is a central issue in the public debate today, examined also in The Green Tank’s analysis as an alternative to the deployment of renewables. The discussion also extended to the possible consequences of Russia’s war against Ukraine on European climate policy (European Green Deal, fit for 55 package, Green Taxonomy) which highlighted the EU’s commitment to climate targets.
Finally, Nikos Mantzaris, when asked about the policy of domestic hydrocarbon extraction, stressed that this is an outdated policy that is both opposite to climate targets and could not even bear immediate fruit to help address the energy crisis.
Green Tank’s analysis is available here.
The interview was published in ot.gr on April 28, 2022. The full text is available here (in Greek).
