Beckman Karel and Van den Beukel Jilles

The OIES Natural Gas Programme has produced a significant amount of research over the past three years on the issue of the decarbonisation of the gas sector in Europe. This paper examines the strategy of the Netherlands, which relies more on natural gas than any other country in the EU, and which has embarked on an energy transition intended to lead to a complete phase-out of unabated natural gas consumption and production by 2050. However, despite the political consensus on climate policy goals, and the speedy realisation of a Climate Accord, there is still a great deal of uncertainty as to what shape the energy transition in the Netherlands will take and what impact it will have, especially on the future of the Dutch gas industry. This paper provides an excellent case study of the challenges, risks and costs that will be faced by the gas industry as a whole in the European Union over the next three decades.