00:00За последние годы Греция превратилась в важный энергетический хаб Юго-Восточной Европы,
00:06использующий свое географическое положение и инфраструктуру для транспортировки и распределения энергоносителей
00:13между Европой, Ближним Востоком и Северной Африкой.
00:16Трансатлантическое сотрудничество, в первую очередь между Евросоюзом и США, укрепляет стратегическую роль Греции.
00:23Корреспондент Евраниус Фей Дуккери встретилась в Афинах с министром энергетики США Крисом Райтом.
00:30Россия's invasion of Ukraine, energy security, has become a pillar of transatlantic strategy.
00:37How sustainable is U.S. support if geopolitical tensions continue?
00:42Oh, I think the support's quite sustainable.
00:44You know, we've been allies with the European nations for the whole history of the United States.
00:50Our resources are immense.
00:52Our desire to grow the partnership, both economic and national security, is strong.
00:57Yeah, the United States will be here for the long run.
01:01With Europe reducing its dependency on Russian energy, how does the U.S. see its own role?
01:08I mean, more like a long-term partner or just a crisis supplier?
01:13Oh, no, we view it very much as a long-term supplier, very much as a long-term supplier.
01:18United States natural gas production is more than twice Russian natural gas production, and ours is growing rapidly.
01:25And our export capacity is expanding even more rapidly than our gas production is expanding.
01:31So, no, our goal, President Trump's agenda, is prosperity at home and peace abroad.
01:38We think nations that are well-supplied with energy have greater economic opportunities, greater prosperity,
01:44and having these cross-border, cross-ocean energy cooperations leads to long-term sticky relationships and drives peace in the world.
01:53Projects like Alexandrupolis, LNG Terminal, and interconnectors to the Balkans have shown, again, the strategic importance of Greece.
02:05How does Washington see Greece's growing role in Europe's energy security architecture?
02:12I think it's fantastic, and Greece is a tremendous partner.
02:16Look, Greece is historically a shipping powerhouse.
02:19Something like 20% of global shipping and over a third of all LNG, liquefied natural gas shipping, is done by Greek companies.
02:28But when the Russian dominated as the energy supplier into Europe, Greece was the end of the line,
02:34was just a node at the end of the energy transportation system.
02:37Now we've seen a totally different role for Greece.
02:40Greece is now the gateway from overseas from the United States to American energy as it flows into Europe.
02:46I think it's huge economic benefits for Greece, and it's great for the United States to have such a long-lasting ally and partner as Greece,
02:55playing this role as the gateway for American energy to Europe.
02:58And since we cannot discuss energy without mentioning environment, I would like to ask you,
03:03you have expressed very specific views about climate change.
03:07You have said that the threat is exaggerated.
03:10Please explain these views to us, and I would also like to ask you if you're going to attend UN's climate talks in Brazil this November.
03:19I won't make the climate talks this year.
03:22I think there's a very good chance I will go next year.
03:24Look, I've been working, studying, writing, reading about climate change for over 20 years,
03:29very involved in that discussion and debate.
03:31So I follow very closely the science of climate change and the economic efforts and the studies on climate change.
03:38It is a real, slow-moving, global, physical phenomenon.
03:42The world has been decarbonizing for 200 years from wood to coal to oil to gas, ultimately to nuclear.
03:49So I think you will see continued reduction in greenhouse gas intensity per unit of energy produced.
03:56I don't even know when global greenhouse gas emissions will peak.
04:00We still have a billion people living wealthy, wonderful lives and 7 billion people wanting that.
04:06So I think we're going to see many, many decades of growth in energy production,
04:11likely continued gradual rises in greenhouse gas emissions.
04:15Fortunately, a more energized, wealthier world is better able to withstand any changes.
04:22Climate change is a real thing, but it's just been wildly exaggerated for political purposes.
04:27I think it's very unfortunate.
04:28Secretary, thank you very much for this discussion.
04:32Thank you so much for having me.
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