Initiated a decade ago, Greece’s energy transition has been extremely swift. From mountainous ridgelines to arid islands covered in wind turbines, green energy today provides nearly two-thirds of the Mediterranean’s energy needs. But now, Greece is deliberately pivoting back toward fossil fuels, not to burn at home. It has claimed that it can become one of Europe’s main suppliers of natural gas, with much of it shipped from the United States. In the coming years, nearly a trillion and a half dollars will be siphoned into constructing pipelines and terminals, as per Global Energy Monitor. According to the New York Times, twenty per cent of that spending is in Europe.
Natural gas is a climate threat in two ways. Burning it produces carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas warming the world. Large but unknown quantities of it also leak into the atmosphere unburned, where it has highly potent but shorter-term planet-warming effects. Notably, the United States is the largest supplier of gas. And despite the aforementioned concerns, Greece is pushing to become a new hub for American gas exports in Europe.
What is Greece getting in the deal?
Greece gets billions of dollars of heavily subsidized gas infrastructure in this arrangement, but the bigger payoff is political, not financial. The country positions itself as central to European energy security, and it plays a key role in the West’s strategy to isolate Russia. American gas companies will make the real money.