Natural Gas Lock-In

Natural gas plays a major role in current efforts to implement new energy and climate policies in the European Union. Proponents claim it as an important, clean energy source needed as a ‘transition’ fuel, while social movements and communities increasingly organize against dangerous gas fracking techniques and increased gas flaring across the globe.

This paper was born out of a debate on natural gas during a series of meetings hosted by the Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung, Brussels Office, in the context of its long-term project on energy in Europe in 2013. Three key points emerged in these discussions which have led to this publication:

1. The inherent contradictions between gas-related infrastructure expansion and plans for emission reductions. The authors examine the increasing ‘lock-in’ effect of massive infrastructure projects that enforce the continuing extraction of natural gas.
2. The European gas markets push for implementing a natural gas spot market which leads to a consolidation of the vision of natural gas as a commodity and its financialization.
3. The environmental and social movements struggle to increase awareness of the numerous negative impacts of current extraction techniques, while natural gas is publicly promoted as a clean transition fuel.

These contradictions are mere examples for the problems inherent to the current EU energy and climate policies. Instead of offering solutions for a clean energy deal, they perpetuate fossil fuel dependency. The EU lacks comprehensive measures leading to the important energy transformation that would leave fossil fuels underground.

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