Study highlights key role of renewable gas in achieving Paris Agreement targets

Renewable gas used in existing gas infrastructure could help reduce Europe’s greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by mid-century, in accordance with the Paris Climate Agreement goals, according to a study conducted by the consultancy Ecofys and commissioned by the gas industry initiative Gas for Climate. It is possible to scale up domestic renewable gas production in the EU to 122 billion cubic metres (bcm) by 2050, write the authors. Of this amount, 98 bcm would be biomethane, and 24 bcm hydrogen produced from wind and solar power. This approach could save money by avoiding the costs of installing and running generation capacity needed to meet peak power demand. Further savings can be realised on insulation costs for buildings to accommodate full-electric heat pumps. The initiative, which brings together seven European gas infrastructure companies and two biogas organisations, also sees a role for natural gas used in combination with carbon capture and storage (CCS) or carbon capture and utilisation (CCU) technologies to avoid greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere.

Find the study in English here, and the press release in English here.