Gas Infrastructure Europe response to European Commission – A Clean Planet for All

December 3, 2018

A European strategic long-term vision for a prosperous, modern, competitive and climate neutral economy

Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE) welcomes the European Commission vision for a climate neutral Europe by 2050, in accordance with the Paris Agreement. GIE president, Jean-Marc Leroy, expressed the commitment of GIE Members, saying “We support the Commission’s objective to decarbonise the European energy systems and believe in the essential role that the gas infrastructure plays in achieving this.”

GIE is the representative organisation towards European Institutions of 69 member companies from 25 countries representing operators of gas infrastructure across Europe in transmission pipelines, storage facilities and LNG terminals.

The gas infrastructure is the backbone of reliable, secure energy supply throughout Europe and beyond, enabling the transport and storage of renewable and decarbonised gases by 2050 and beyond to meet demand from the power, industry, land and marine transportation and heating sectors. It facilitates a fully developed EU energy market for all gases. Further processing to bioLNG offers almost 100% GHG emissions reduction as an essential fuel for heavy-duty vehicles and shipping.

As outlined in the vision, the gas infrastructure enables an integrated approach to be used for the optimum development of gas infrastructure and electricity networks:

• Through sector coupling, renewable gases such as hydrogen and synthetic methane can be stored in quantities far exceeding battery capacity.
• Through sector integration, large quantities of biomethane can be transported and stored, offering a crucial link between renewable resources and consumers in Europe and neighbouring countries, contributing to a successful bio-economy.

GIE members are looking at how to adapt to climate change in both the way they do business and through developing opportunities to transport and store lower-carbon gases: innovative technologies that produce renewable and decarbonised gases and inject them into the grid already exist and are being further developed throughout Europe; and trading in green gases currently takes place.

Jean-Marc Leroy reiterated GIE’s commitment to the Commission’s strategy to achieve net-zero GHG emissions by 2050 through a socially-fair transition, stating “ Using the existing gas infrastructure to deliver and store increased quantities of renewable and decarbonised energy, rather than build new electricity networks, will significantly reduce the cost of the transition to the consumer, whilst boosting jobs and growth .”

GIE Members would like to once more emphasise the value that the gas infrastructure brings in terms of reliability, flexibility, security and as the enabler of increased renewable energy delivery and storage

Note to editors

Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE) is an association representing the interests of European natural gas infrastructure operators active in natural 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 69 member companies from 25 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 our website at www.gie.eu .