The Italian energy companies Enel, French Engie, Czech EPH, Spanish Iberdrola and Norwegian Statkraft “do not plan to gradually stop producing electricity from fossil gas by 2035” as recommended by the IEA and the IPCC .
The transition plans of five major European electricity producers, including Engie, provide for significant investments in renewable energies but not to cut themselves off fossil fuels quickly enough, deplored the coalition of Beyond Fossil Fuels associations on Wednesday. According to an analysis of documents from Italian energy companies Enel, French Engie, Czech EPH, Spanish Iberdrola and Norwegian Statkraft, the latter “do not plan to gradually stop producing electricity from fossil gas by 2035, as recommended by the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC),” details the Berlin-based coalition in a report.
Enel, Engie and EPH in particular “remain important developers of fossil gas power plants”, adds the document which draws attention to projects based on the use of hydrogen and biomethane (gas from organic waste) . The latter are still “immature or non-operating on a commercial scale”, according to this group representing around sixty European civil organizations, including WWF and Reclaim Finance.
Engie will devote 1 to 2 billion euros to new gas-fired thermal power plants by 2026
The French energy company Engie, for example, certainly plans to double its renewable energy capacities from 42 GW in 2023 to 80 GW in 2030, so that they then represent 58% of its energy mix, and to strengthen its storage capacities. But the group plans to still devote between 1 and 2 billion euros to new gas-fired thermal power plants and 1 billion euros to gas infrastructure by 2026, the report notes. And Engie is engaged in contracts for gas from hydraulic fracturing in the United States which run until after 2040, the document also notes.
Taken as a whole, the transition plans of EPH, Enel and Engie “do not allow us to foresee a rapid exit from fossil fuels”, estimates Pierre-Alain Sebrecht, campaign manager at Reclaim Finance, cited in a communicated.
“Their commitment to developing new gas-fired power plants will lock in future emissions and hamper Europe’s ability to meet its climate targets,” he adds, stressing that “it also undermines compliance with climate change commitments.” carbon neutrality of the actors who support them financially.
Even if they do not commit to abandoning fossil fuels by 2035, Iberdrola and Statkraft “show that a coherent transition plan towards a sustainable electricity system (wind, solar, storage and networks) is possible”, underlines also the report.
