Financing the EU energy transition

The Taxonomy Regulation – a classification for “environmentally sustainable investments” – is the central element of the EU sustainable finance action plan. Coherence between the overarching provisions in the sustainable finance initiative and sectoral policies – such as ensuring a safe, secure, sustainable and affordable energy supply underpinning the Energy Union – remains crucial for the implementation of effective measures to support sustainable investments.

With respect to the Commission’s work on screening criteria to identify environmentally sustainable activities, GasNaturally supports technology-neutral threshold levels based on life cycle GHG emission reductions for promising pre-commercial technologies. The criteria should consider the scalability of technologies and their potential for multiple applications.

Moreover, both transitional activities and new technologies are necessary to achieve climate objectives. Regarding the former, there is enormous potential in the market for the transformation of existing carbon-intensive industries and processes, whether emission reductions through switching to natural gas in heat and power generation, or uptake in energy-intensive industry or transport (LNG/CNG). Investment in gas infrastructure remains crucial to abate emissions in Europe, both through natural, renewable and decarbonised gases.