The Guardian: Greece: Syriza juggles coal, pipelines and climate ambitions
Syriza’s election victory has kindled hopes of an environmental champion pushing for greater climate ambition on the European stage, but the party will need to balance its green credentials with a commitment to new coal plants, and ambivalence about a major gas pipeline.
Syriza is in an alliance with a faction of the Greek Green party, which will have at least one MP in the new government, and it is seen by many as a tribune of European social movements, particularly environmental ones.
Elements of Syriza’s domestic agenda will delight environmentalists. The party believes in small-scale diversified renewables production, coordinated with local people through community-level decision making. It also plans a big expansion of energy efficient building renovations – seen as the most cost-effective means of simultaneously cutting emissions – and fuel poverty.