Welcome to the 13th issue of the Global Voice of Gas magazine, an International Gas Union publication, produced in collaboration with Natural Gas World (NGW). [To Download, Scroll Down]

The release of this issue comes just weeks ahead of the key energy transition milestone, the UN COP28 climate summit taking place in the United Arab Emirates through the start of December, where world leaders will convene to measure progress that has been made in realising the goals of the Paris Agreement. The world is already aware that the stock take may come back less than perfect for progressing the energy transition, particularly as emissions continued to rise in 2022 and the energy crisis forced many nations to resort to more coal and oil burning, as they looked for alternatives to mitigate the surging prices of natural gas. However, what will matter most are the conclusions drawn from that and the decisions made on how to course correct, while the emissions reduction targets are still within reach. Optimally, these decisions will be inclusive, pragmatic, technology-neutral, taking into account the fundamentals of global energy, capital, and capacity endowments, to set the world up for an achievable success.

It is clear that natural gas and the low-carbon gaseous energy at large must be recognised in these policies for their critical role in the global energy transition. As the world looks to reduce emissions in power, buildings, industry, and the transport sectors, while drastically scaling intermittent renewable generation, the reliability, flexibility, efficiency, and cost- effectiveness of gas make it an unmatched resource for a sustained and sustainable transition. Gas remains the most cost-effective available resource for grid resiliency, heavy industrial activity, and, in many regions, for energy in buildings.

But this issue of GVG focuses on how the environmental value can be further enhanced, by addressing methane emissions more aggressively, deploying low-carbon technologies such as carbon capture utilisation and storage (CCUS) and electrification, and supporting the development of low-carbon gases such as hydrogen, e-methane and biomethane.

We also provide a summary of the main findings of the International Gas Union’s Wholesale Gas Price Survey 2023, which tracks the changes in gas pricing over the years, while demonstrating the criticality of a well-functioning global gas market at work.