Climate Protection and Gas Infrastructure

Increased expansion of renewable energies and greater energy efficiency could significantly reduce European gas consumption and save costs. This is the result of a study conducted by Prognos and Ecologic on behalf of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU).

The study shows: Gas infrastructure planning in Europe is currently based only on reference scenarios (status quo will be updated) and not on climate and energy policy goals.

For example, a scenario of TYNDP 2017 and the network development plans in the six countries examined (Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom) generally do not assume that energy and climate policy objectives will be achieved. In other scenarios, a significant reduction in gas demand is expected in the medium to long term. This is largely not reflected in the scenarios for gas network planning. A higher validity of the gas demand forecasts therefore still seems necessary. There is also still room for improvement in the participation options for network development plans, e.g. better involvement of non-governmental organisations.

Read the study: Low carbon options and gas infrastructure (PDF)

Summary (PDF)

Authors:

Jens Hobohm, Hanno Falkenberg, Eva-Maria Klotz, Sylvie Koziel, Stefan Mellahn, Karsten Weinert (alle Prognos) Andreas Graf, Dr. Nils Meyer-Ohlendorf (Ecologic Institute)