by Nil Topcular
Sciences Po Environment had a guest speaker event on Jan. 29 concerning clean energy transitions, with energy analyst Carole Etienne taking the stage to talk to students about natural gas and energy policies. As an energy analyst at the International Energy Agency (IEA), her intervention gave insight into the challenges of natural gas as well as the role of the IEA.
Natural gas is a controversial subject and the IEA’s role in this debate is to provide tools to understand its challenges and also to overcome them. This is critical, as natural gas represents 24% of the world’s energy consumption with uses in sectors ranging from electric generation to domestic uses.
However,natural gas was not always as global as it is now. The globalization of natural gas was facilitated by the invention of liquified natural gas, or LNG. This led to a shift from regional pipelines to internationally connected energy networks, and gas became an international energy supply. This increased the importance in having regulations and policy surrounding it.
Its highly diverse areas of use and its global role make gas key. Demand for gas follows two pathways: current policies (in state) or states policies (not yet implemented). The development of industrial power combined with rising electricity needs in emerging markets—mainly developing countries in the Asia Pacific region —drives ongoing demand growth for natural gas.
Recently, the focus of energy policy has been changing. As mentioned by Etienne, safety is becoming more and more central in policy discussions. This topic was previously overlooked in this area but is now one of the main subjects of energy policy. Indeed, following the Russo-Ukrainian War, access to reliable and safe energy has become a priority for many states. Especially Asia and Europe, as the main consumers of natural gas, have a “competition.” As Russia started cutting gas, this competition became more vivid.
Energy policies are changing. At the forefront is the EU Methane regulation, as the first EU framework targeting transparency on methane emissions. This also addresses the key theme in energy that is interconnectedness. It therefore represents not only a step towards limiting methane emissions but also addressing the issue at multiple levels. For the IEA, the current policy priorities are to set a clear roadmap for long-term visibility for investment in the market, developing integrated supply chains as well as supporting innovation.
Considering current consumption and reliance on gas, it is safe to say that gas is not going anywhere. So, what’s important here is how it is consumed, starting with methane emission. As methane is a heavy polluter, even a small leak can be detrimental:one tonne of methane has the same effect as 30 tonnes of CO2. Limiting methane leaks would render 100 billion cubic metres of natural gas available to the market, leak prevention is both beneficial to the climate and in terms of consumption. Despite heightened competition for consumption, reducing methane emissions is beneficial to all parties as it increases gas supply.
Limiting methane emissions is not necessarily difficult. In fact, around 70% of emissions can actually be avoided with current technology, and at a very low cost: detecting and fixing leaks or even building vapour recovery units are simple solutions that already exist. It is now just a matter of implementation.
Transparency is one of the main ways of combatting climate change, especially because of huge differences in carbon footprints. For example, Turkmenistan is one of the highest polluting countries. It has a very high methane emission, which can be explained by a higher amount of gas leaks and equipment age. But as Etienne said, energy consumption has no borders. Global cooperation is thus another essential tool to reducing climate change, despite discrepancies in emissions.
While energy consumption faces issues due to a complex geopolitical context and energy policy gains more importance, we also have a role in this. Indeed, Etienne started her speech by mentioning that many IEA employees are Sciences Po alumni, showing that we could be the ones shaping this area in the future.What the IEA consulting governments as well as to research and publishing reports concerning energy and energy policies, which give insight into topics such as the evolution of demand and prices. Geopolitical conflicts and pressure to reduce emissions is currently shifting the focus of energy policy and, as Sciences Po students, we have the opportunity to determine its direction.
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