Gas Infrastructure Europe – ready for the Green Deal

December 13, 2019

The members of the Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE) fully support the European Green Deal in reducing emissions and pollution in the European Union and reaching carbon neutrality by 2050 ¹ . Recognising the opportunities as well as the challenges, we are ready to innovate our business to contribute the EU climate and energy targets.

GIE members – operators of Europe’s gas transmission, storage and LNG facilities – will contribute to the short-, mid- and long-term climate ambitions for reduced emissions through our supply of cleaner energy and renewable and net-zero gases. Europe can transition to an affordable, secure, fully integrated, carbon-neutral energy market only through the continued use of gases. This is particularly relevant in the difficult-to-electrify sectors of industry, heating, transport and power.

There is still untapped potential to achieve fast and significant emission reductions and immediate health benefits with the switch from carbon-intensive fuels (such as coal, lignite and heavy fuel oil) to lower-emission natural gas; air pollution resulting from such burning high-emission fuels still constitutes a serious health problem in many communities.

The gas infrastructure is the backbone of energy throughout Europe: our LNG import terminals receive large quantities of energy that secure and diversify energy supply, our transmission pipelines deliver gases throughout the EU28 and our underground storage facilities store the gas needed to balance both the gas and electric grids and to provide seasonal back up. In line with the Green Deal ambitions, GIE members are already underway with preparations to facilitate the increased delivery and storage of sustainable gases, including biomethane, synthetic methane and hydrogen – be these in liquid or gaseous form. All our facilities can be used for renewable and decarbonised gases.

GIE is deeply involved with the European Commission and other stakeholders to assist them develop the necessary legislative changes to achieve the Green deal. We welcome the opportunity to continue our engagement to develop dynamic and future-proof policies that will enable the EU to succeed in its ambitions.

As proposed by the Commission, GIE supports a Green Deal that will sustain high ambitions towards carbon neutrality by 2050. Nonetheless, we also urge the Commission to be pragmatic in its support of gas infrastructure investment for the development of low-emission power generation in areas of energy poverty or extreme air pollution in regions with coal-dependency or hard-to-decarbonise economies.

¹ Refer to GIE Vision 2050 at gie.eu :
https://www.gie.eu/index.php/gie-publications/position-papers/27537-gie-vision-2050/file

Note to editors

Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE) is an association representing the interests of gas infrastructure operators active in gas transmission, storage and LNG regasification. GIE is a trusted partner of European institutions, regulatory bodies and industry stakeholders. It is based in Brussels, the heart of European policymaking.

GIE currently represents 70 member companies from 26 countries. Its internal structure has three columns corresponding to the three types of infrastructure activities represented: GTE (Gas Transmission Europe), GSE (Gas Storage Europe) and GLE (Gas LNG Europe), all of which fall under the umbrella of GIE. This structure allows member companies to speak with one voice on infrastructure topics as well as to build positions on column-specific issues. To find out more about GIE’s structure and activities, please visit the website at www.gie.eu .