Gaslighting on emissions: IEEFA says burning LNG “worse than coal” for climate

As Australia’s natural gas sector braces for the price impact of the global Covid-19 crisis, a leading energy think tank has used new analysis to argue that emissions from natural gas have been dangerously underestimated and that it was wrong to treat gas as a “transition fuel” in the shift away from coal.

In a new report, the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) says that emissions from the production and use of natural gas may have been significantly underestimated and that this has been obfuscated by a concerted campaign of the natural gas industry.

Emissions from natural gas significantly underestimated.

“The industry claims burning fossil fuels such as ‘natural’ gas is cleaner than burning coal, a commodity on its way out as the world transitions to cleaner more sustainable energy sources,” IEEFA gas analyst Bruce Robertson said.

“This is simply not the case. Gas is worse than coal in the short term due to its release of methane into the atmosphere.”

Read the story from RenewEconomy by Michael Mazengarb - “Gaslighting on emissions: IEEFA says burning LNG “worse than coal” for climate.”