Proposed gas projects for EU support would emit as much carbon as Germany’s coal fleet each year
Friends of the Earth Europe, together with other NGOs, has filed a complaint with the European Ombudsman over the European Commission’s repeated failure to properly assess the climate impact of fossil gas projects which are seeking political and financial support from the EU.
This means gas infrastructure projects with significant impacts on accelerating global warming stand to benefit from favoured treatment.
Friends of the Earth Europe, Food & Water Action Europe and Global Witness say that the Commission’s revised methodology for deciding which fossil gas pipelines and terminals will earn the status of ‘projects of common interest’ (PCI) does not include a credible sustainability assessment. PCI status means a project is treated as high priority, enjoys fast-tracked planning, and can receive significant public funding.
Eilidh Robb, anti-fossil fuel campaigner at Friends of the Earth Europe, said:
“It’s unacceptable to be putting forward meaningless sustainability checks which do nothing other than make the Commission feel better about allowing continued support for fossil gas projects. If fossil gas were to be effectively assessed for sustainability it would fail on all counts – we know it’s not a solution to the climate crisis. It’s time the Commission acted accordingly.”
New methodology
An updated methodology, published last month, means that even if a gas project fails the sustainability test, it will not automatically be removed from the PCI list.
Moreover, the analysis does not take into account methane leakage from infrastructure even though such leakage accounts for some 2% of the EU’s total annual greenhouse gas emissions. The methodology only considers carbon savings when compared to coal, which artificially inflates the alleged savings. The NGOs are also critical of a lack of transparency over project assessment (as previously noted by the Ombudsman), making it impossible to know how or why a project was approved.
Analysis by Global Witness has shown just how catastrophic it would be for the planet; additional emissions from proposed gas projects would total at least 213 million tonnes of carbon dioxide every year – equivalent to the emissions of Germany’s fleet of coal plants in 2018.
Frida Kieninger, Senior Campaigner with Food & Water Action Europe said:
“With climate catastrophe knocking at Europe’s doors and flooding our towns, it is appalling that once again the Commission is ignoring science and proposing a farcical process overlooking the climate impacts of the fossil gas projects it will support. This means dozens of climate-damaging, not to mention unnecessary, gas pipelines and terminals could receive favoured treatment from the EU. Instead of pumping more public cash into fossil fuels, the EU should be fighting to phase them out to protect our climate.”
Complaint
The complaint comes after the EU Ombudsman already censured the EU Commission for a ‘suboptimal’ sustainability process for assessing gas projects that failed to take into account climate risks. The Commission promised it would take several steps to improve its criteria for assessing PCI projects and the Ombudsman indicated that this should include both carbon dioxide and methane emissions.
The European Commission is expected to publish its final draft fifth list of PCI projects in November, which will then go to MEPs and EU governments for approval or rejection. A Global Witness analysis of the previous four PCI lists showed that at least €440 million of EU taxpayer money has been wasted on projects that either have, or are likely to, fail.
Read more:
- The complaint submitted to the European Ombudsman
- Global Witness (2021): EU companies burn fossil gas and taxpayer cash
We think you’d also like:
Gas
Stopping climate breakdown means keeping all fossil fuels in the ground – including gas. Governments and banks must stop financing gas pipelines and terminals which would lock us into a fossil-fuel future.
