BAKU, Azerbaijan, Jan.19. Europe will still need to rely on natural gas even if it invests more in renewables, former US Ambassador to Azerbaijan Matthew Bryza told Trend.
“EU is always trying to pursue two goals at the same time, which if not managed carefully, could be contradictory. So, goal number one of course, is to get more non-Russian gas to replace 155 billion cubic meters of gas that Russia exported to Europe. If Azerbaijan doubles its supplies it can provide 16 to 20 percent of Europe’s gas. So that’s one goal,” he said.
Bryza noted that the second goal is of course to decarbonize and to phase out natural gas like all hydrocarbons energy sources over time and rely instead on renewable energy, including green hydrogen.
“I think that it is going to require huge investments, enormous capital and I am confident that for the next decade or two, Europe will still need to rely on natural gas even if it invests more in renewables and tries to reduce its demand for natural gas,” the former ambassador added.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) says that despite the rapid recent growth in clean energy technologies, the world still relies predominantly on fossil fuels for its energy supply.
“In fact, growth in clean energy supply since 2000 has been dwarfed by that of oil, gas and coal, especially in the emerging and developing economies. In those countries, the share of fossil fuels in total primary energy supply increased from 77 percent in 2000 to 80 percent in 2021, mainly due to a jump in coal, from 27 percent to 35 percent. In the advanced economies, the share dropped from 82 percent to 77 percent over the same period. As a result, the overall share of fossil energy in the global energy mix has remained almost constant at about 80 percent,” IEA says in its latest report.
The report reveals that oil remains the single largest source of primary energy, making up 29 percent of total energy supply in 2021 (down from 37 percent in 2000), followed by coal at 26 percent (up from 23 percent) and natural gas at 23 percent (up from 21 percent).
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