Three European countries are especially reliant on fossil gas for electricity generation – Italy, the UK and Germany.
Increasing gas power across Europe threatens to undermine climate commitments and lock in fossil fuels for decades, a new report has found.
The briefing from campaign group Beyond Fossil Fuels reveals that in total, European nations plan to add 80 GW of new gas-fired power generating capacity- an increase of 32 per cent on the current capacity.
As countries position themselves as global climate leaders at COP29, it risks locking them into high-carbon power systems.
“We didn’t enter the digital age by bulk buying typewriters, and we won’t build a clean power system by constructing so many new gas plants,” said Alexandru Mustață, campaigner at Beyond Fossil Fuels.
“Europe’s plans for new gas power infrastructure are dangerously out of step with its climate targets. This overbuild risks locking us into decades of fossil fuel dependence—a path that leads straight to climate chaos.”
Where in Europe is adding the most gas power?
Beyond Fossil Fuels analysed the current and future plans for fossil gas in the power systems of six European countries: Italy, Germany, the United Kingdom, Bulgaria, Romania and Poland.
Three European countries are especially reliant on fossil gas for electricity generation – Italy, the UK and Germany.
Half of the new additions are planned by these three countries which are already responsible for 45 per cent of Europe’s total gas power capacity. Governments from all three countries have committed to decarbonising their power sectors by 2035.
The UK has the most ambitious timeline with a clean power by 2030 target. Last week the country’s National Energy System Operator confirmed this is achievable if gas power capacity isn’t expanded beyond what it was in 2023.
But Italy, the UK and Germany all lack any concrete plans to stop burning fossil gas at their more than 900 existing gas power plants – let alone any new ones being developed. Plans to build new gas capacity “severely undermine” the credibility of their ambitions, the briefing says.
Poland, Romania and Bulgaria are collectively planning to increase their gas plant capacity from 9 to 24 GW. Beyond Fossil Fuels claims many of these projects are being subsidised with taxpayers’ money or funding from the EU intended to help countries “modernise” their power systems and make their economies more “sustainable”.
Can Europe get rid of gas power before time runs out?
In 2023, fossil gas generated 24 per cent of Europe’s electricity – 17 per cent within the EU. Just a handful of countries – Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Luxembourg, Kosovo, and Cyprus – don’t have any operational gas power plants.
Of the 855 European gas power plants in the Beyond Fossil Fuels database, just four have retired since January 2023. Only seven are officially set to close by 2035 – the deadline by which the International Energy Agency says developed nations need to decarbonise to stay on a 1.5C warming pathway.
The briefing also reveals significant underinvestment in solutions needed for a functioning renewables-based power system like electricity grids or storage. Instead, it claims, this money is being funnelled into gas exploration and extraction alongside infrastructure like pipelines and terminals.
Beyond Fossil Fuels says these projects risk deepening Europe’s dependence on imported fossil fuels from hostile regimes while diverting critical funds away from renewables, grids and storage.
