“I’m not bluffing” in LNG threat, Qatari Energy Minister Saad Sherida al-Kaabi tells the FT.
Summary
Qatar warned it’ll halt gas exports to the EU if fined under the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, which fines companies for human rights or environmental impacts, up to 5% of global revenue.
Qatari Energy Minister Saad Sherida al-Kaabi criticized the law as unworkable for QatarEnergy, a key LNG supplier to Europe.
The directive, part of the EU’s net-zero 2050 strategy, faces criticism but is set to be implemented by 2027.
The EU emphasizes its alignment with international standards and proportional enforcement of the rules.
This and also why these oil countries are trying to sport wash their way to future profitable endeavors. Football, Olympics, eSports etc. As per usual the sports organizations and actors in the field doesn't give a shit. "We have to go to football world championship because then we can tell them to do better on human rights!". Nothing has happened. Your participation helped to sustain their sport washing and it's going great.
Except that, as we’re frantically building out alternatives to gas, our economically stressed voters will be way pickings for the numerous Russian-backed populist parties, so we need to hold off until we can tell the Qataris to go jump with impunity.
As somebody once put it, politics is the art of saying “nice doggy” until you can find a rock
If you're waiting until everything is stable and safe and comfortable, you'll never actually act. It's always easier to destabilize and scare than it is to actually fix something. If the plan is to not move until it's safe, anyone with a vested interest in maintaining the status quo will always be able to scare you into inaction.
The economic stress is a result of wealth inequality and unequal political representation, not the switch to renewable energy. And this "oh no, we can't improve anything because the Nazis won't like it" is either defeatist or plain old shilling.