European Firms Warn “Unbearably High Energy Costs” May Spark Wave Of Production Shutdowns
Years of mindless green energy policies across the European continent are about to unleash an economic crisis. Energy-intensive companies are paying “unbearably high energy prices” that may force them to shutter operations.
Eleven European associations (from steel to fertilizers to cement to paper mills) published a press release Wednesday that warned the energy crisis that plagues the continent has worsened over the few months and accelerated in the last several days as European natural gas hit a record high on Tuesday.
“The main reasons for this situation are the financial market speculation from financial players including hedge funds and commodity trading houses, the imbalances in the gas market, seasonally decreased renewable energy production, reduced nuclear energy production, coal mine closures, and increased carbon costs passed on in electricity prices,” the eleven associations said in a press release.
Europe’s energy crisis has snowballed into what could be an economic downturn. The groups warned, “numerous industrial energy consumers” have “to curtail and/or temporarily close plants” because “energy prices have increased 4 to 5 times” and made the cost of operating uneconomical.
“The ongoing situation has severely impacted the competitiveness and profitability of energy-intensive sectors’ European operations as they are most exposed to dramatic price spikes,” the groups continued.
They said, “a prolonged period of unbearably high energy prices could lead to severe losses, relocation of European companies and an increase of carbon leakage.”
The groups called on European leaders to combat the energy crisis and “quickly exploit the full potential of the toolbox presented by the European Commission in October. Furthermore, urgent actions are necessary at EU level to enable affected companies to overcome this situation.”
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