EXPERT: European dependence on Russian oil, gas allowed Putin to attack Ukraine

As Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine enters its second week, more observers are becoming increasingly concerned about how reliant Western countries have become on Russian energy exports.

Michael Shellenberger, author of Apocalypse Never: Why Environmental Alarmist Hurts Us All, wrote an article for Bari Weiss’s Substack explaining how an obsession with “green ideology” opposed to fracking and nuclear made the West vulnerable to Moscow’s laser focus on oil and gas exports.

“That’s how Russia ends up supplying about 20 percent of Europe’s oil, 40 percent of its gas, and 20 percent of its coal,” he writes, summarizing the numbers.

He argues green campaigns justified expensive renewables in the name of a vague “climate apocalypse,” blinding Western countries to the hard realities of energy production. As they were “worshiping a teenager named Greta [Thunberg]” and banning plastic straws, Putin expanded oil and natural gas production, then doubled nuclear energy production so he could export more of it.

Shellenber, who describes himself as an “ecomodernist,” presents Germany as an example of how investment in expensive renewables only made it more reliant on Russian gas and oil. Germany closed gas fields and shut down its nuclear plants and now purchases 50% of its coal, 55% of its gas and 35% of its oil from Russia.

Based on Shellenber's assertions, it should come as no surprise that Germany was strongly opposed to any sanctions against Russia that would affect its ability to import and pay for oil and gas, even fighting for carve-outs in SWIFT.

Even amid sanctions, the U.S., U.K., and the European Union continue to spend an average of $500 million per day on Russian energy.

All this was encouraged by Putin. In 2014, a NATO official noted that Russia was funding environmental NGOs “working against shale gas… to maintain European dependence on Russian gas.”

The Wall Street Journal editorial board concurred, pointing out that the E.U. produced more gas than Russia exported just 15 years ago.

“Europe offers another reminder to the U.S. that blocking fossil-fuel development here won’t keep carbon ‘in the ground,” they wrote. “It merely hands a strategic weapon to dictators that they will turn around and use against us.