Page 8 - EurOil Week 05 2022

EurOil COMMENTARY EurOil

EU backs gas as sustainable

energy source

With endorsement from the commission and broad support among member

states, natural gas is very likely to make it into the EU taxonomy

EUROPE THE European Commission (EC) has called for said, in a reference to EC President Ursula von
natural gas to be recognised as sustainable in cer- der Leyen.
WHAT: tain conditions, drawing criticism from both the Activist Greta Thunberg likewise said the
The EC has proposed that industry and environmental NGOs. EU move “takes greenwashing to a completely
gas is included in the EU The EU’s taxonomy code provides guidance new level. The people in power do not even pre-
taxonomy. to investors on what they should consider sus- tend to care anymore. Now they are moving into
tainable investments, and the EC has proposed uncharted greenwash territory.”
WHY: including gas as well as nuclear energy. Their In contrast, oil and gas association IOGP
The taxonomy is a guide ability to drive down emissions by replacing welcomed the EC’s recognition of gas as sustain-
for investors for what dirtier sources of energy such as coal should be able. But it also voiced concern that the condi-
should be considered recognised, it said. tions proposed by the commission were overly
sustainable investment. Private investment will be vital for the EU to restrictive. Such “extremely demanding techni-
deliver on its climate ambitions, the EC said, and cal screening criteria … would exclude some of
WHAT NEXT: all available solutions should be considered to the most efficient gas-related activities to sup-
While gas has been reach the bloc’s net zero by 2050 target. port necessary emissions reductions.”
included, projects will “Taking account of scientific advice and cur- “This could slow down the much-needed
still face significant rent technological progress, the commission contribution gases can make to a successful
scrutiny over their considers that there is a role for private invest- European energy transition,” IOGP said.
environmental impact. ment in gas and nuclear activities in the transi- The association stressed that the require-
tion,” the EC said. “The gas and nuclear activities ment that gas plants should be switched to
selected are in line with the EU’s climate and renewables or low-carbon gases by 2035 would
environmental objectives and will allow us to mean “the necessary investments are unlikely to
accelerate the shift from more polluting activ- materialise.”
ities, such as coal generation, towards a cli- “Failure to effectively include gas-related
mate-neutral future, mostly based on renewable activities would leave member states that choose
energy sources.” to phase out baseload capacity such as coal and/
There are stringent conditions for what gas or nuclear plants with no scalable and flexible
investments can be considered sustainable, solution to support a rising share of variable
however. A gas-fired power plant will have to renewables, and put their secure supply of power
produce 100 g of CO2 per kWh of lifecycle emis- and heat at risk,” the EC said.
sions or less, and be built to replace coal. Oper- The EC’s proposals will be discussed by the
ators must also have a plan in place to convert European Parliament and EU member states
the facility to run on 100% renewables by 2035. before becoming final. This could mean they
This could include a conversion to hydrogen or undergo revision. Europe is divided over its
biomethane. nuclear policy, with Germany strongly opposed
The EC’s position on gas and nuclear was to atomic energy and France supportive of it.
roundly criticised by environmental groups However, natural gas enjoys broader support
including Greenpeace, which described it as among member states, meaning the proposal to
“greenwashing.” include it in the taxonomy is unlikely to be voted
“I’d like to report an attempted robbery, down, and the conditions might be made less
please,” Greenpeace’s EU sustainable finance stringent to accommodate more investments.
campaigner Ariadna Rodrigo said. “Someone is Gas could be used to displace coal in Ger-
trying to take billions of euros away from renew- many, which is phasing out coal and atomic
ables and sink them into technologies that either energy and will need another form of baseload
do nothing to fight the climate crisis, like nuclear, capacity to support renewables. Poland, which
or which actively make the problem worse, like currently meets 80% of its power needs by burn-
fossil gas.” ing coal, has now embraced gas as a cleaner alter-
“The suspect is at EU Commission HQ and native, and there are several other countries in
has disguised herself as someone to be taken Eastern Europe that could use gas to move away
seriously on the climate and nature crisis,” she from coal. ™

P8 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 05 03•February•2022