It's a Gas, Gas, Gas!

The rocketing price of natural gas in Europe, provides a window of opportunity for Russia. Germany gets most of its natural gas from Russia. The Russians are now pressing for an early certification of their Nord Stream 2 pipeline. The pipeline runs on the seabed of the Baltic, bypassing the Ukraine. Russia have suggested that more gas could be available, if early certification is carried out. This simple observation seems to be already curbing gas price rises (https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/oct/07/nord-stream-2-approval-may-cool-gas-prices-europe-russia). There are, however, some issues. The US has argued that Nord Stream 2 would make Europe too reliant on Russian energy. One might also add that too much oil and gas is currently being extracted by Russia, if the climate crisis is to be actually halted. Hydrocarbons need to be left in the (rapidly thawing) ground. It is also unclear whether Russia (the producer) or Germany (the user) would get the carbon from the gas added to their emissions totals? The latter seem to be the more obvious target (as with Australian coal exports). Cheaper gas could even reduce any imperative to develop renewable energy sources in Germany.