PLEA Network

10 July 2019, Renew Economy : Putin mocks wind turbines, says they shake worms out of the ground. Russia president Vladimir Putin has more in common with US president Donald Trump than we thought: Both have an apparent dislike of wind turbines, and appear believe what is fed to them by some extreme anti-wind blogs. Putin this week chose a manufacturing and industrialisation conference in the industrial city of Yekaterinburg, located in Russia’s most polluted region of Sverdlovsk, to launch an extraordinary attack against wind energy. “Will it be comfortable for people to live on a planet with a palisade of wind turbines and several layers of solar panels?” Putin asked…… At least, however, Putin appears to have changed his tune on the impacts of climate change – at least to a degree. Having previously pointed to the benefits of a warming climate in a country with such a severe winter, Putin’s government now concedes that “global climatic changes are taking place in the world, which have a rather significant effect on economic issues”. It notes that “advanced countries are gradually switching to a low-carbon development model by continuously monitoring and encouraging a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in various sectors.” Access more here