Future of gas Archives

While fossil gas is often seen as a transition fuel towards a fully decarbonised energy mix, GE Gas Power sees low-carbon gas as “a destination technology” with a potential to convert power plants to run 100% on clean hydrogen by 2030.

Surely, natural gas, too, will have to be phased out over time, so why not skip this phase and move straight to wind and solar? The idea sounds enticing, but upon closer examination, it is counterproductive if not self-defeating, argues Olga Bielkova.

Using hydrogen-based fuels for cars and home heating risks locking in a dependency on fossil fuels and failing to tackle the climate crisis, according to a new analysis. EURACTIV's media partner, The Guardian, reports.

The world must urgently cut its emissions of methane to rein in climate change, a UN report said Thursday (6 May) raising pressure on European Union policymakers who are drafting the bloc's first methane regulations targeting fossil fuels.

Eleven EU countries have signed a declaration calling on the European Union to stop funding fossil fuels under its trans-European energy infrastructure regulation (TEN-E), which is currently under revision.

An attempt by right-wing Polish MEPs to force a plenary vote on the controversial gas pipeline between Russia and Germany was blocked for a second time by the two largest groups in the European Parliament on Thursday (29 April), Parliament …

Deep cuts in methane emissions, including from the fossil fuel industry, are urgently needed to slow the rate of global warming and keep it beneath a threshold agreed by world leaders, according to a UN report due to be released next week.

The hard line defended by France over the inclusion of nuclear power in the green finance taxonomy is a dead end because there is no majority in favour of it at the EU level, warns lawmaker Pascal Canfin. Instead, the French MEP argues for including nuclear energy in the 'transition' category.

Europe is already building or planning to build €87 billion worth of fossil gas infrastructure in a continued expansion of pipelines and LNG terminals, despite the need to halve its emissions by 2030, according to a new report published on Thursday (8 April).

Europe should support high sustainability standards for clean hydrogen in its green finance rules, argue a group of 24 renewable energy companies and industry bodies in a letter sent to the European Commission on Wednesday (31 March).

A group of 88 lawmakers in the European Parliament have joined environmental NGOs and the renewable energy industry to demand the exclusion of low-carbon fossil fuels from the upcoming revision of the EU’s Renewable Energy Directive.

A group representing European investors managing €36 trillion in assets renewed pressure on the European Commission to introduce mandatory methane emissions standards for natural gas, according to a letter dated 31 March.

The value of share offerings in fossil fuel companies has dropped by almost 20% since 2012, while low-carbon companies gained ground in a shift towards clean energy, a report by think-tank Carbon Tracker showed on Wednesday (31 March).

Europe has set a clear goal for full decarbonisation by 2050, with renewables-based electricity set to become the dominant energy carrier, and that means fossil gas will have “only a marginal role” in the long run, EU climate chief Frans Timmermans said on Thursday (25 March). 

The environment ministers of Poland, Bulgaria, and the Czech Republic have criticised the constraints imposed by the "do no significant harm" principle when it comes to EU funding. Others like Denmark, meanwhile, defend strict limits on fossil fuel spending in the EU's recovery plan.

The European Union plans to label some gas power plants as sustainable investments, after an initial proposal to deny them a green label faced a backlash from a group of 10 EU member states.

The European Parliament's industry and energy committee passed a resolution on Monday (22 March) supporting hydrogen produced from "low-carbon" energy sources, including fossil gas with carbon sequestration. The motion stopped short, however, of mentioning nuclear as a potential energy source.

The European Commission is reconsidering the position of gas in its sustainable finance taxonomy by recognising the fossil fuel’s role in keeping the lights on during peak electricity demand, according to a leaked document seen by EURACTIV.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) has invested €890 million in gas projects since it pledged to phase out investments into fossil fuels by 2022, contradicting the bank’s "gas is over" narrative, activists say.

The renewable hydrogen coalition has launched its policy charter, showing the steps needed to boost green hydrogen in Europe and give the continent an edge in the race for sustainable energy.

Lithuanian state-controlled energy company Ignitis Group will start supplying liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Poland next year when a new pipeline between the two countries comes online, its CEO said on Monday (1 March).

Gas companies in Europe and America are looking at using the existing gas network to serve industrial “clusters” of hydrogen users in sectors like chemicals, cement and steelmaking, adopting a “phased approach” endorsed by the European Commission.

The US government is confident its sanctions against the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline connecting Russia and Germany will have an impact. In a document obtained by EURACTIV Germany, the State Department lists 18 European companies that have already ended their cooperation with the project. EURACTIV Germany reports.

The European Commission came under new pressure on Monday (22 February) from Poland's biggest power producer, PGE, and its own advisors, over whether to include gas power in EU rules on sustainable finance.