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"The extent and speed of decarbonisation are different for countries, depending on the national circumstances," said Yury Sentyurin, secretary general of the gas forum. "The gas industry strives to improve its resilience and reduce its environmental impact."
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The United States and Europe have been moving to shift nations away from natural gas, a fossil fuel that while less polluting than coal still produces sizeable emissions of carbon dioxide and methane.
But many poorer nations are resisting that effort, arguing that gas would allow them to reduce emissions by switching from coal or fuel without the costs and intermittency issues related to building our wind and solar energy networks.
At the Oil Petroleum Congress meeting in Houston earlier this month, Lawrence Apaalse, chief director at Ghana’s Ministry of Energy, said his nation was not ready to shift entirely off fossil fuels.
“It is not feasible for oil and gas to be taken offline in the short- and medium-term because of the state of our development,” he said. “We’re just beginning to industrialize.”