RePowerEU: Can Renewable Gas help reduce Russian gas imports by 2030?

On 8 March 2022, the European Commission published its communication “Joint European Action for more affordable, secure and sustainable energy”, referred to as “REPowerEU”.  The communication was in immediate reaction to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and had the objective to “make Europe independent from Russian fossil fuels well before 2030”.  On 18 May the European Commission released a further package of documents, putting more detail around the aspirational targets set in the 8 March publication.  Based on both the earlier communication and the further details released on May 18, this Comment considers the EU proposals for biomethane and hydrogen, assessing the objectives to increase significantly the production of renewable gas by 2030.

By: Martin Lambert