For the Sake of the Global South, It’s Time for the World to Treat Natural Gas Like the Fossil Fuel It Is

The document contends that treating natural gas as a 'bridge fuel' and funding its proliferation in the Global South through climate finance would jeopardize the 1.5°C warming target and the Paris Agreement. It highlights three primary risks: supply dependency on a few countries, extreme price volatility—exemplified by the 2022 energy crisis in Europe—and the high warming potential of methane leaks. The author argues that renewable energy is a more secure and cost-effective alternative, citing the scaling of wind and solar in Brazil, China, Vietnam, and India.

• Funding the proliferation of fossil gas in the Global South through revised climate financing criteria would likely prevent the world from keeping global warming below the 1.5°C target and undermine the Paris Agreement.
• Natural gas poses significant energy security and economic risks due to supply dependency and price volatility; in the first half of 2022, prices averaged over $30/mmBtu, a tenfold increase from 2020.
• The production of fossil gas leads to methane leaks, which are particularly dangerous because methane has 86 times the warming potential of carbon dioxide.
• Renewable energy is presented as a superior alternative to fossil gas for developing countries, as evidenced by the growth of wind technology in Brazil and China and solar energy in Vietnam and India.

APA

RMI (2022). For the Sake of the Global South, It’s Time for the World to Treat Natural Gas Like the Fossil Fuel It Is. https://rmi.org/resources/time-for-the-world-to-treat-natural-gas-like-the-fossil-fuel-it-is/

Chicago

RMI. For the Sake of the Global South, It’s Time for the World to Treat Natural Gas Like the Fossil Fuel It Is. 2022. https://rmi.org/resources/time-for-the-world-to-treat-natural-gas-like-the-fossil-fuel-it-is/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=RMI |title=For the Sake of the Global South, It’s Time for the World to Treat Natural Gas Like the Fossil Fuel It Is |date=15 November 2022 |url=https://rmi.org/resources/time-for-the-world-to-treat-natural-gas-like-the-fossil-fuel-it-is/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{rmi2022sake, author = {{RMI}}, title = {{For the Sake of the Global South, It’s Time for the World to Treat Natural Gas Like the Fossil Fuel It Is}}, publisher = {RMI}, year = {2022}, month = nov, url = {https://rmi.org/resources/time-for-the-world-to-treat-natural-gas-like-the-fossil-fuel-it-is/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }