Former MEPs Hans-Olaf Henkel and Benedek Jávor on the Challenges and Future of Energy and Sustainability

By Irati Hurtado Ruiz, EUC Research Assistant and Spanish & Portuguese PhD Student

This panel organized by the European Union Center on November 12, 2020 featured two former members of the European Parliament: Hans-Olaf Henkel (Germany) and Benedek Jávor (Hungary). The speakers commented on some of the challenges the European Union is currently facing in terms of energy and sustainability, as well as on the steps that are being taken to address them. The panel was moderated by Peter Christensen, Assistant Professor of Agricultural and Consumer Economics at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

Henkel and Jávor started out by discussing the European Green Deal, whereby countries of the European Union committed to stop greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Both speakers agreed that this is indeed a good goal. However, they also raised the question of how feasible this goal actually is. For example, Jávor mentioned that since countries are left alone to determine what they are going to do in order to achieve that common European goal, it is hard to guarantee that the goal will be met. Henkel, on the other hand, pointed out that the freedom of each country to determine its own energy needs hinders the creation of a common European market.

 

Another issue discussed was investments in renewable energy on the part of European countries. On this topic, Jávor noted that some sources of renewable energy are already cheaper than fossil fuels and other non-renewable forms of energy. Thus, European economies need to reinvent themselves to stop depending on non-renewable energy, a process that also involves certain social transformations. Henkel suggested that nuclear energy could also be a good alternative, although Jávor disagreed, pointing to financial and security concerns.

 

In relation to this, Jávor and Henkel also seemed to agree that current rates of carbon emissions are a problem for the environment. Henkel claimed that investing in carbon capture and storage is key, since the world population will continue to increase in the next years and it is important to remove part of the CO₂ humans produce. Jávor disagreed with this idea, as those processes are highly costly. He mentioned that reforestation would be a better solution.  

 

Lastly, the speakers talked about the role of technology and how it can help achieve sustainability goals. Jávor seemed to be skeptical about technology, and said that it can certainly help, but that it is not a solution in itself. Henkel, on the other hand, pointed out that technology is usually expensive and it is sometimes hard to strike a balance between economy and ecology.  

Watch the full panel discussion below: