The EU considers including natural gas as a “green” fuel in the transition against climate change

The head of the European Union’s climate change negotiators, Vice President Frans Timmermans, has given a clear signal that the Twenty-seven are considering the role of natural gas that could be included under their green Rule Book when making investments . Methane, which is the fundamental component of natural gas (97% of natural gas is methane), is a powerful greenhouse gas. According to the United Nations, although the life of methane is shorter than that of CO₂ , over a hundred years, methane has a global warming power 28 times greater than that of CO₂ ; and on a 20-year scale, it is 84 times more potent as a greenhouse gas.

The vice president of the European Commission, the social democrat Frans Timmermans, said this Thursday – Europa Press reports – that an exit from coal by some member states, such as Poland, could require an intermediate state of use of natural gas that, in all In this case, it would be subject to strict conditions, including gas pipelines that can transport hydrogen and decarbonised gases once the end of natural gas arrives. “We will also have to invest in natural gas infrastructure,” admitted the European vice president at a press conference at the COP26 in Glasgow. “As long as we are able to do it without losing sight of the fact that this is for a specific period, then I think the investment will be justified,” he added.

However, non-governmental organizations and other environmental groups have criticized the potential inclusion of natural gas in the European Union’s taxonomy, which sets the rules for investments that can be classified as green or not. In their opinion, if this event actually occurs, it would mean a new block to the EU’s responsibility to keep the planet’s global temperature below 1.5ºC and that could also open the door to nuclear energy.

The EU has touted its green regulation as the global gold standard. While the original plan left out nuclear and gas, France announced this week that it will promote the inclusion of these two energy resources to curb the escalation of energy prices.

But this decision may open a melon within the European bloc, since the environment ministers of Germany, Denmark, Portugal, Austria and Luxembourg have signed a statement against classifying nuclear energy as green energy in the sustainable investment rulebook. of the twenty-seven.

The Portuguese Minister for the Environment, Joao Pedro Matos Fernandes, has described putting nuclear power within the European taxonomy as a “bad decision”. “It is not safe, it is not sustainable and it costs a lot of money. There are many other options, especially wind and solar,” he criticized.

Source: Renewable Energies