European gas: an industry in denial?

The natural gas sector needs to be prepared for declining demand after the mid-2020s—and there are doubts that it is

Europe's renewable energy revolution is unlikely to dent the continent's gas demand over the next five years. But the industry needs to plan ahead if it is not to become increasingly irrelevant. On the face of it, decisions made by Germany, the UK, Italy, Spain and other European countries to phase out or severely reduce coal consumption, as they seek to lower carbon emissions, is good news for gas. The latter offers a readily available alternative source of non-intermittent power with around half the emissions of coal, depending on the technology used. Politicians in the continent's largest economy, Germany, are expected to back the conclusions of a special commission report, published in J