Eurogas Recommendations: How gases can contribute to EU’s resilience

• The European Commission's Electrification Action Plan makes electrification a central pillar to solve the energy trilemma. But a resilient energy system requires increased decarbonisation, diversification, technology neutrality and decentralisation. In this context, natural gas and renewable and low-carbon gases (such as biomethane and renewable and low-carbon hydrogen and their derivatives) play an essential role.

• The importance of considering all energy vectors which are part of the energy system and how these interact is, for example, rightly recognised in the Energy Security Framework review (assessing natural gas, electricity and oil together). With the increased demand of renewables and electrification, the power system will also need flexible, dispatchable and storage capacity for peak demand and low-renewable periods.

• A resilient EU energy system needs a balanced approach: cost-effective electrification alongside scaled-up renewable and low-carbon gases, backed by the infrastructure to keep the transition flexible, secure and affordable. Several actions are necessary to ensure that natural gas and renewable and low-carbon molecules can contribute to their fullest potential, such as ensuring that European markets are functioning properly, solving potential bottlenecks, addressing shortcomings of the regulatory framework and promoting scaling up of biomethane and hydrogen consumption and production.

Download the recommendations below.