In Europe, with temperatures dropping and winter in sight, a global decline in liquefied natural gas supply, driven by gas flow drops in the Sabine Pass LNG plant in Louisiana, the largest plant in the United States, have caused European gas prices to soar. However, European policymakers can’t solely blame external factors such as flow drops in the U.S. and the war in Ukraine; European government policies have played a significant role in the continent’s energy crisis.
But European climate policies also simultaneously reduced domestic natural gas production. This imbalance between rising demand and lower domestic production led to a sharp spike in gas prices, causing European electricity bills to skyrocket by up to 470% between 2020 and 2021 — all before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Sanctions imposed on Russian trade further exacerbated the crisis in 2022, doubling natural gas bills for some Europeans.
Astonishingly, despite these soaring costs, Europe remains committed to its current course. The Netherlands plans to shut down the Groningen gas field, the world’s 10th-largest, by Oct. 1 of this year, despite its ample reserves capable of meeting Europe’s annual gas needs.Canada must take heed and chart a different course.