Op-Ed: Western Europe Should Focus on Energy Security Before GHGs

In an op-ed published in the European edition of the Wall Street Journal today, Dan Lewis, CEO of the Economic Policy Centre and author of "Securing Our Energy Future—Why and how it must be done," wrote that "the continent's failure to confront its urgent energy-security concerns is a disgrace." Lewis called for a "fundamental rethink" in Europe that would focus first on energy security, then economic impact, and only then on GHGs.

Lewis said European Union energy policy was "driven by the urge to reduce carbon" and the "EU overlooks an ambitious 2020 renewables target, the Large Combustion Plant Directive, that closes down many coal stations from 2015 without replacement. And it oversees an Emissions Trading Scheme that prices out all the way to 2012--a hopeless incentive for a big power-plant investment. No question, Brussels dominates the energy-policy landscape."