Sunday

10th Dec 2023

Gas sector spends €100 million annually on lobbying EU

  • Gas lobbyists met with European Commission vice-president for energy union Maros Sefcovic (r) and climate commissioner Miguel Arias Canete more than 460 times

The gas industry and its backers spent over €100 million in lobbying activities in Brussels in 2016, according to a new report by Corporate Europe Observatory, published on Tuesday (31 October).

The sector employs at least 1,000 lobbyists, and secured hundreds of meetings with the two EU commissioners with climate and energy in their portfolios.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

  • Gas 'potentially has a bigger carbon footprint than oil and even coal' (Photo: Nord Stream)

According to the report, gas lobbyists met with European Commission vice-president for energy union Maros Sefcovic and climate commissioner Miguel Arias Canete more than 460 times between November 2014 and August 2017 – on average three meetings a week.

"The EU has proven highly responsive to pressure from industry and member states, providing policies that give gas significant legislative, political, and financial support," said the report.

Corporate Europe Observatory is a Brussels-based civil society lobby group, with a focus on transparency and lobbying.

It said in its report that its estimates were probably on the low-end, because many companies and organisations lobbying on gas are not on the radar.

The EU's lobby register is not mandatory and contains self-reported data that is not independently double-checked.

"Without a legally-binding and fully-enforced transparency register that ensures accurate and detailed declarations of lobby spending and activities, it is impossible to be fully precise about the true firepower of the gas lobby," the report said.

The NGO also criticised the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Gas (ENTSO-G), an organisation created by the EU in 2009.

It said that ENTSO-G representatives had tried to influence EU lawmaking through members of the European Parliament.

The organisation is also involved in the selection of so-called Projects of Common Interests, or PCIs.

Once categorised as PCI, an infrastructure project will receive easier treatment to get permits, and is eligible for EU funds.

Corporate Europe Observatory said that ENTSO-G is biased towards the gas industry.

The group also criticised the EU for going along with the gas lobby's narrative, which states that "gas is clean, gas is the natural partner of renewables, and gas offers a transition to a decarbonised world".

But while gas does emit less CO2 than coal or oil, the fossil fuel "potentially has a bigger carbon footprint than oil and even coal", the report said, because of methane leaks.

Methane is a greenhouse gas many times more dangerous than CO2 because it traps much more heat.

Interview

Why a solar power lobbyist joined a fossil fuel club

James Watson is now secretary general of Eurogas, after more than four years at the helm of SolarPower Europe. "I don't feel there is any inconsistency with what I've done before and what I'm doing now," he tells EUobserver.

Opinion

Tusk's difficult in-tray on Poland's judicial independence

What is obvious is that PiS put in place a set of interlocking safeguards for itself which, even after their political defeat in Poland, will render it very difficult for the new government to restore the rule of law.

Opinion

Can Green Deal survive the 2024 European election?

Six months ahead of the EU elections, knocking an 'elitist' climate agenda is looking like a vote-winner to some. Saving the Green Deal and the EU's climate ambitions starts with listening to Europeans who are struggling to make ends meet.

Latest News

  1. How Moldova is trying to control tuberculosis
  2. Many problems to solve in Dubai — honesty about them is good
  3. Sudanese fleeing violence find no haven in Egypt or EU
  4. How should EU reform the humanitarian aid system?
  5. EU suggests visa-bans on Israeli settlers, following US example
  6. EU ministers prepare for all-night fiscal debate
  7. Spain's Nadia Calviño backed to be EIB's first female chief
  8. Is there hope for the EU and eurozone?

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us