*[Enwl-inf] [can-eecca] Безподобное видео про газопровод в ЕС из Азербайджана

[ENWLine]

Репостить здесь: https://www.facebook.com/caneecca/videos/2027652074119612/

Статья и полное видео здесь: http://www.counter-balance.org/pipe/

*As the European Investment Bank prepares to vote next Feb 6 on a € 1.5bn
loan to the western leg of the gas mega-pipeline (the Trans Adriatic
Pipeline – TAP), a new NGO video presents the blatant contradictions of
this EU-sponsored project locking us in a fossil-fuel future*

What do Magritte’s famous painting from 1928 and a gas mega-corridor
conceived in 2008 have in common? Well, to start with they were both
conceptualized in Brussels and they are both about pipes, though of quite a
different sort.

But there’s more than that, shows the new animation
<https://youtu.be/XfMQr5j_BAA> “This is not a pipe” launched today by
Counter Balance. The video tells the story of the Southern Gas Corridor, a
3500km-long pipeline that would bring gas from Azerbaijan to Europe, and
thus allegedly “save” Europe, otherwise doomed to depend on “unreliable”
Russia for its energy – as European politicians depict it. The billing of
the project: more than 40 billion euros, of which up to 3 billion euros of
EU tax payers’ money are to be channeled through the EU’s financial arm –
the European Investment Bank (EIB).

Still, just as in Magritte’s painting at a first, superficial look the
images are “treacherous” and the spectator risks being led to false
conclusions, so would one be deceived by the standard political
representation of the Southern Gas Corridor as a silver bullet for Europe’s
energy needs. Scratching the surface, the EU brainchild raises many
fundamental concerns while lying on big contradictions, as the video
exposes.

Through a colorful sequence of illustrations combined with creative
versions of some of the most renowned works of art ever – from a
wind-powered Botticelli’s *Birth of Venus *to a Munch’s *Scream* even more
horrified by the gas pipeline running next to him – the animation casts a
doubt on one of the main arguments used to justify such an expensive
project: “Europe needs it for its energy security”.

Reversing the logic behind it, the video shows how throwing our security in
the arms of autocrats such as Azerbaijan’s President Aliyev and Turkey’s
increasingly authoritarian Erdogan wouldn’t do us much good either, nor
lead to better respect of human rights and democracy in those countries.
But the ultimate paradox lies in the fact that there’s a concrete chance
the Southern Gas Corridor ends up channeling Russian gas to Europe, as
Gazprom repeated declarations of interest in a future use of the TAP
confirmed.

And there’s even more. Considered that in the last few years the EU demand
for gas has dropped while renewables have gotten more and more affordable,
putting so much public money in such a huge fossil fuel infrastructure as
the Southern Gas Corridor makes hardly any sense, both economically and for
our climate. Indeed, moving away from fossil fuels should be now a primary
objective for the EU, if it is to respect its commitment to the Paris
Agreement and contribute to the urgent global fight against climate change.
For this purpose, it is key that the EIB, as the EU’s bank, orients its
funding choices accordingly.

In this respect, the video’s message couldn’t be more timely, given that on
the occasion of the recent One Planet climate Summit in Paris, the bank was
proud to present itself on the frontline of the world’s most committed
green investors.

*Xavier Sol, Counter Balance’s Director, said:*

*“Climate* *rhetoric aside, the votes on the loans to the Southern Gas
Corridor – the first of which is coming up in the next EIB Board of
Directors’ meeting on Feb 6 – are a concrete opportunity for the bank to
translate its words into action. All the more as it will revise the
criteria for its energy investments this year, and a decision to stop
fossil fuel financing altogether would be the only reasonable move for the
world’s biggest public lender and self-proclaimed climate champion.”*


--
Regards,
Olha Boiko

--

 

From: "Olha Boiko" <olhabo...@gmail.com>

Sent: Tuesday, February 06, 2018 5:33 PM

Subject: [can-eecca] Безподобное видео про газопровод в ЕС из Азербайджана

 

---

------------- *  ENWL  * ------------
Ecological North West Line * St. Petersburg, Russia
Independent Environmental Net Service
Russian: ENWL (North West), ENWL-inf (FSU), ENWL-misc (any topics)
English: ENWL-eng (world information)
Send information to en...@lew.spb.org, enwl...@lew.spb.org, en...@lew.spb.org, en...@lew.spb.org
Subscription, Moderator: vf...@lew.spb.org or en...@enw.net.ru
Archive: http://groups.google.com/group/enwl/ 
Additionally: http://www.enwl.net.ru/
 (C) Please refer to exclusive articles of ENWL
-------------------------------------