Gaseous energy sources are becoming increasingly important: Supply and demand for natural gas have been growing steadily for years. In addition, a flourishing global trade in liquefied natural gas (LNG) is helping regionally oriented markets to converge increasingly. More and more countries are furthermore attempting to accelerate the market ramp-up of hydrogen.
Natural gas (still) plays an essential role in Europe. Compared to other conventional energy sources such as oil or coal, the CO2 emitted by natural gas’s energetic use is relatively low. For this reason, natural gas has the potential to displace coal in the electricity sector or petroleum-based diesel in the heating sector. Moreover, there is already an infrastructure in place – namely storage facilities, transport, and distribution networks – that can also be used in the future for climate-neutral gases such as synthetic methane or biogas.