BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 28. Gas will be critical for secure decarbonization of the global energy system, the International Gas Union (IGU) told Trend.
“Europe will require vast amounts of natural gas to meet its RepowerEU objectives of replacing ~155BCM of Russian volumes. And at the same time, the IGU stresses that natural gas, progressively together with a portfolio of low, zero-, and negative carbon-emission gases will be critical in achieving Europe’s long-term energy transition aspirations. Gas is the fastest, available, efficient and the most flexible vehicle to reaching climate neutrality,” said the organization.
The IGU has also been repeatedly stressing that it is absolutely essential that any new developments are compliant with Paris goals and provide a future-proof opportunity to investors.
“Continuing to drive down methane emissions and ensuring that new projects are sustainable is key to developing long-term infrastructure, which will deliver natural gas today and increasingly a portfolio of decarbonised and renewable natural gas, as well as low- and zero-carbon hydrogen in the future.
Gas will be critical for an achievable, affordable, sustainable, and secure decarbonization of the global energy system. Initially this can happen through reversing the recent growth in coal use as well as through oil displacement, while supporting the acceleration of renewables deployment through grid balancing and integration in the power sector. Progressively, low-carbon and zero-carbon gases, such as hydrogen, biomethane and natural gas with CCUS, will support deeper decarbonization across sectors alongside renewables and other Paris-compatible fuels,” said IGU.
The organization said that leveraging existing natural gas infrastructure will be critical in enabling these new decarbonized gas options to commercialize and scale.
“New gas infrastructure can be designed in a way to enable further scale up of low- and zero- carbon gases and, supporting the achievement of Paris agreement objectives,” IGU believes.