Full Title: Coal-to-Gas Switching Threatens Energy, Security, and Global Climate Goals
Author(s): Jenny Martos
Publisher(s): Global Energy Monitor
Publication Date: October 10, 2022
Full Text: Download Resource
Description (excerpt):
The global shift away from coal risks becoming a long-term shift toward gas, according to data from Global Energy Monitor, which show that approximately 89.6 gigawatts (GW) of gas plants in development, totalling 5,070 million tonnes CO2e lifetime
emissions if built, are coal-to-gas conversions or replacements. The economic case for leapfrogging gas and switching to renewables is supported by the increased volatility of gas prices and the tightening supply of imported gas to Asian countries, as well as the rapidly declining costs of renewables and battery storage. Any reductions in CO2 emissions from cancelling coal plants could be offset by an increase in methane emissions, a more potent greenhouse gas. These gas projects will undermine countries’ climate commitments and the successful work of activists to gradually shut down the coal plant pipeline.
Expanding gas-fired capacity poses the risk that plants built now could lock in gas use for decades. Mitigating the worst impacts of the climate crisis and meeting global climate goals depends on transitioning to renewables without any new investment in fossil fuel infrastructure.