EU to Limit Natural Gas Projects Due to Climate Goals
- December 12, 2020
- Posted by: Quatro Strategies
- Category: Energy
The European Union is set to restrict funding for natural gas projects due to the Union’s climate goals. Last year, the EU handed nearly 1 billion euros to Projects of Common Interest, which receive EU funding and permits, including power grids and a gas pipeline.
However, the European Commission looks to cut Europe’s greenhouse gas emissions, and rewrite the TEN-E rules to make them greener.
The proposed changes for the rules include a funding restriction to natural gas and oil infrastructure.
Under the proposed rules, “smart gas grids” could get funding if they support “the integration of renewable and low-carbon gases” into the gas network. Pipelines that carry hydrogen are also eligible for funding.
Renewable energy campaigners said this was a loophole that could support pipelines that transport mostly natural gas, with a small share of green gases, or pipelines that transport hydrogen produced from natural gas in a process that causes CO2 emissions.
Natural gas powered plants produce less CO2 emissions than coal; but they are not carbon-free, which makes them incompatible with the EU’s plan to have zero emissions by 2050.
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