On 7 February 2023, Greenpeace and thirty other environmental groups sent the following open letter to members of the European Parliament’s industry committee (ITRE). The committee will vote on 9 February on revisions to the EU’s gas regulation and gas directive.

Dear Member of the European Parliament, 

Fossil gas is among the main drivers of the cost of living crisis that Europeans have been suffering from for months. Inflation, the energy crisis, weaponization of energy deliveries and a worsening climate crisis bring hardship upon your constituents and are all linked to Europe’s dependence on fossil fuels. 7 in 10 Europeans are struggling this winter and 1 in 10 are skipping meals, while four fossil fuel companies alone made a shocking €77 billion in profit at our expense, in less than a year. 

The revision of the gas package is a crucial tool to protect Europeans from the devastating effects of gas dependency and fossil gas industry interests for years to come. So far, the revision of the package not only fails to challenge the dirty status quo on fossil gas, it also opens the door for an uncontrolled hydrogen boom. It will do nothing to stop polluters from raking in skyrocketing profits as Europe remains stuck in a cost of living crisis. It is in your hands as representative of the ITRE Committee to take action during the ITRE votes on the Gas Regulation and the Gas Directive on 9 February.

The package doesn’t serve Europeans, but the fossil fuel industry. This is not surprising given the fossil fuel industry has been operating hand-in-hand with decision-makers for years, spending €250 million on lobbying, and landing more than 100 meetings with high-ranking EU Commission officials in only 9 months, taking up seats in expert bodies and being given broad mandates within energy legislation. Increased fossil gas industry control in the Gas Package, and elsewhere, will mean an energy system in Europe that continues to fail to meet the needs of people and the planet – yet it is MEPs’ responsibility to protect present and future generations of Europeans. The fossil fuel industry made breathtakingly accurate predictions on global warming and greenhouse gas emissions from their activities already in the 1970s, yet, they have chosen not to act. They will continue to sell us heavily greenwashed false solutions like CCS and hydrogen to convince us that they are part of the transition to clean energy. 

The days for maintaining a livable climate on this planet are numbered. In your position as ITRE member, we count on you to deliver a Gas Package free from industry capture, that facilitates a break up with fossil fuels, and delivers for people, not profit. Your efforts will be supported by close to a hundred thousand people who have, in the past few days alone, asked MEPs to kick the the fossil fuel industry out of our politics.

We urge you to

  • Deliver a gas package that includes the planning of a Europe-wide phase out of fossil gas including the decommissioning of unused infrastructure. This is only possible if the package EXCLUDES tasking the fossil gas industry with “future-proofing” our energy system, as it’s currently the case in the proposals.
  • STOP allowing the gas industry to govern not only the gas sector, but govern and benefit from the hydrogen sector too. DON’T let them build & operate hundreds of thousands of kilometers of super-sized future hydrogen pipelines which the current gas package facilitates. This risks allowing the fossil gas industry to make money off a costly, inefficient and wasteful build out of a gas system that transports large amounts of fossil gas and fossil-based hydrogen. [governance and ENNOH, horizontal unbundling] 
  • NOT allow network activities such as gas production, transmission, distribution and supply to be managed by the same entity, standing in for the gas industry. [This represents another avenue for the fossil fuel industry to benefit from the hydrogen hype, protecting polluters but not Europeans. [vertical unbundling]
  • NOT create a system in which Europeans locked into gas dependency have to pay for the hydrogen boom through their energy bills. Instead, please push for the careful use of costly and scarce hydrogen, unlike the current text which encourages wasteful and inefficient use of hydrogen where other cheaper and easier solutions are available. [cross-subsidisation] 
  • BLOCK the EU market from inherently polluting new fossil-based (blue, turquoise etc) and nuclear energy-based hydrogen and CLOSE all loopholes that could allow defining hydrogen as “green” or “renewable” if it is based on fossils or nuclear. Fossil based hydrogen risks creating more carbon pollution than just burning gas straight away! [low carbon hydrogen]
  • NOT establish a target for ridiculously high amounts of biogas, which risks disastrous consequences for the EU’s agricultural system, land use change, pesticide and fertilizer use and food security, and risks creating support for polluting factory farms. [biogas target]
  • STOP the package from forcing EU countries to allow the mixing of hydrogen with fossil gas. Blending is a waste of hydrogen, and important industry sectors are outright unable to safely use blended gas. [blending]
  • STOP the process to by-pass a vote in plenary. To stand a chance of delivering a package that works for people and the planet, we need as many elected officials as possible to stand up for their constituents. [plenary vote]

Already in 2019, the EU Parliament declared a climate emergency. Please act accordingly and don’t hand your responsibility to act on behalf of people and our future over to big fossil fuel polluters. We need a fossil fuel phase out, fast; please deliver a gas package that takes us closer not further from an energy system that works for all!

Kind regards,

Friends of the Earth Europe

Food & Water Action Europe

Greenpeace

Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO)

European Environmental Bureau

CEE Bankwatch Network

WeSmellGas, Belgium

GLOBAL 2000 – Friends of the Earth Austria, Austria

Za Zemiata, Bulgaria

Debt Observatory in Globalisation (ODG), Catalunya/Spain

Friends of the Earth Cyprus

Baltic Pipe Network, Denmark

Les Amis de la Terre France

Collectif non au gazoduc transfrontalier MidCat, France

Andy Gheorghiu Consulting, Germany

Deutsche Umwelthilfe, Germany

Friends of the Earth Ireland

ReCommon, Italy

Campagna Per il Clima Fuori dal Fossile, Italy

Stowarzyszenie Pracownia na rzecz Wszystkich Istot, Poland

Stowarzyszenie Ekologiczne EKO-UNIA, Poland

Towarzystwo na Rzecz Ziemi, Poland

Institute for Sustainable Development, Poland

Climáximo, Portugal

Bankwatch Romania

ECODES, Spain

Fundación Renovables, Spain

Amigos de la Tierra, Spain

Ecologistas en Acción, Spain

Gas No Es Solución, Spain

Razom We Stand, Ukraine

Letter – MEPs, please support a gas package for people not for fossil polluters!