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Can natural gas be a catalyst to build a lower-carbon world?

natural gas

Content from the Brookings Institution India Center is now archived. After seven years of an impactful partnership, as of September 11, 2020, Brookings India is now the Centre for Social and Economic Progress, an independent public policy institution based in India.

Editor's note:

This article first appeared in Infraline Plus Magazine January 2019 issue. The views are of the author(s).

The short answer to the question is yes; natural gas can be and has already become a catalyst in some countries, which are transitioning to a low-carbon economy. The more important question though is can this model be replicated in other countries with gas as a catalyst? Several factors have been responsible in countries where natural gas has acted as a catalyst or ‘bridge’ fuel. Unlocking cheap gas supplies and new producers (conventional and unconventional), falling costs of Renewable Energy (RE), increasingly vocal concerns on climate change and dangers of exceeding the 2 degrees Celsius target, deteriorating air quality leading to a policy push are just some of the factors that have aided the shift. This, in essence, provides the short answer, and now let us dive a bit deeper.

Read the entire article here.