WHAT IS THE PLACE OF FOSSIL GAS IN A SUSTAINABLE ENERGY MIX ?

The report challenges the narrative of fossil gas as a 'bridge fuel,' stating that a global gas-based electricity system would be as damaging to the climate as one based on coal. It distinguishes between the roles of different gas turbines, noting that while open-cycle gas turbines (OCGTs) can provide short-term flexibility for variable renewable energy, combined-cycle gas turbines (CCGTs) lack the necessary ramp-up speed and risk commercial failure if used only as backup. The document concludes that existing thermal plants and storage technologies, such as pumped-storage hydropower, are sufficient to meet seasonal flexibility needs, rendering new gas infrastructure unnecessary and uneconomical.

• Replacing coal-fired electricity with gas-fired electricity is not a viable climate solution because emissions from the entire gas value chain remain too high; a global system based on gas would be as detrimental to the climate as one based on coal.
• While burning gas emits roughly half the CO2 of coal, gas is primarily composed of methane, which has 83 times the warming power of CO2 over a 20-year period and accounts for approximately 30% of global temperature increases since the industrial revolution.
• Open-cycle gas turbines (OCGTs) can increase output three to four times faster than combined-cycle gas turbines (CCGTs), allowing them to manage demand peaks and low variable sustainable production. In contrast, CCGTs cannot modulate output quickly enough for short-term flexibility and may lose commercial viability if used solely as backup for renewables.
• There is no economic or technical justification for building new gas-fired power plants for long-term or seasonal flexibility. IEA scenarios indicate that existing plants are sufficient, and that in high-renewable grids, thermal plants operate only 500 to 2,000 hours per year, significantly below the world average of 4,000 hours.
• Reclaim Finance recommends that financial institutions stop presenting fossil gas as a transitional energy source and immediately halt all financial services supporting the expansion of the gas value chain, including new gas fields and LNG export terminals.

APA

Reclaim Finance (n.d.). WHAT IS THE PLACE OF FOSSIL GAS IN A SUSTAINABLE ENERGY MIX ? https://reclaimfinance.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/What-is-the-place-of-fossil-gas-in-a-sustainable-energy-mix.pdf

Chicago

Reclaim Finance. WHAT IS THE PLACE OF FOSSIL GAS IN A SUSTAINABLE ENERGY MIX ? n.d. https://reclaimfinance.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/What-is-the-place-of-fossil-gas-in-a-sustainable-energy-mix.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Reclaim Finance |title=WHAT IS THE PLACE OF FOSSIL GAS IN A SUSTAINABLE ENERGY MIX ? |url=https://reclaimfinance.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/What-is-the-place-of-fossil-gas-in-a-sustainable-energy-mix.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{reclaimfinancendwhat, author = {{Reclaim Finance}}, title = {{WHAT IS THE PLACE OF FOSSIL GAS IN A SUSTAINABLE ENERGY MIX ?}}, institution = {Reclaim Finance}, url = {https://reclaimfinance.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/What-is-the-place-of-fossil-gas-in-a-sustainable-energy-mix.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }