Time to make a dash for green gas, EU told
A coalition of 57 companies and national associations has called on the EU to commit to gas to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.
In the letter to the EU, shared with gasworld, the industry positions itself as the bridge to clean energy systems.
The letter calls on the EU to support ‘ambitious and pragmatic policy tools’ to enable long-term investment.
Natural gas should be backed now as a replacement for oil and coal, to immediately reduce CO2 emissions. This is turn will allow investment in a green energy future, built round hydrogen and renewable gases like biomethane.
One of its key asks is for the EU to support “the European electrolyser manufacturers and other renewable gas solutions, such as biomethane, to ensure that Europe remains the world leader in developing and manufacturing clean gas technologies”.
The others, according to the gasworld report, are:
- Taking a level playing field approach to the development of hydrogen (from renewables, natural gas reforming with CCUS and methane pyrolysis)
- Incentivising investments in hydrogen infrastructure (including retrofitting)
- Lifting legal and administrative barriers to the introduction of hydrogen into the gas grid
- Supporting CCUS and the full range of low-carbon gas options in the EU’s climate and energy policies, in particular in the future revision of gas market rules; Integrating CO2 storage and all modes of CO2 transport in overall infrastructure development.
The letter echoes one sent to the EU in April by the Eurogas association on behalf of a coalition of green gas producers and users.
Signed by the European Biogas Association and NGVA Europe amongst others, the letter urged the EU to make renewable and decarbonised gas a central pillar of the economic recovery plan for after the Covid-19 crisis.
The association said, “Concentrating economic recovery on climate technology sectors where Europe is already leading – hydrogen, biogas, CCUS – will stimulate economic recovery, secure jobs and contribute to the energy transition. It will also provide Europe with export opportunities for its own climate technology, products, and services worldwide.”
