Paper short abstract:

Energy dependence has been an omnipresent issue since Russia invaded Ukraine. The standard explanation usually focuses on geopolitical factors. The paper discusses how emission control in the 1970s contributed to natural gas dependence and created almost intractable challenges to decarbonization.

Paper long abstract:

Energy dependence has been an omnipresent issue in Central Europe since Russia invaded Ukraine. The standard explanation for Central Europe usually focuses on geopolitical factors: energy carriers enabled change through trade during the Cold War. After the collapse of the USSR, this dependence was further strengthened against all warnings. This approach, however, ignores the role of fossil fuel corporations and utilities in creating demand.

The paper discusses how the energy crisis of the 1970s and environmental awareness of the 1980s allowed for natural gas (NG) to become a cheap and critical weapon against (a) oil dependence and (b) sulfur emissions, acid rain, and forest dieback. Using examples from Austria, which signed Europe's first NG contract with the USSR in 1968, I will discuss how the 1970s opened a window of opportunity for oil companies to position themselves as actors in environmental protection by selling NG. I will also show how local governments, industries, and utilities used the narrative of supposedly green NG to open up new markets. Even cities like Vienna switched their entire town gas production to imported NG in just a few years to eliminate air pollution. The mere switch to a less dirty fuel without questioning the underlying growth dynamics forced the federal government to conclude new import contracts with the USSR/Russia continuously. Or, to put it another way, the short-sighted clean air policies of the 1970s contributed to a massive path dependence on NG-based energy systems that is now an almost intractable problem.