Finance & economics | Green finance

The rights and wrongs of investing in natural gas

Should multilateral development banks finance gas projects?

FILE -- A liquefied natural gas terminal in Panigaglia, Italy, on Feb. 1, 2022. President Joe Biden has diverted more gas to Europe, but that will still not be enough to replace what Russia supplies. (Clara Vannucci/The New York Times)Credit: New York Times / Redux / eyevineFor further information please contact eyevinetel: +44 (0) 20 8709 8709e-mail: info@eyevine.comwww.eyevine.com

Can natural gas ever be a “green” investment? Burning any fossil fuel inevitably makes the planet warmer. Yet switching power stations to gas from more carbon-intensive coal has helped countries cut their total emissions in the past. Environmentalists counter that global temperatures have risen so much that all fossil-fuel use needs to be ended as quickly as possible if the world is to meet the targets laid out in the Paris agreement to limit global warming to “well below 2°c”.

This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline “A natural question”

The right way to fix the energy crisis

From the June 25th 2022 edition

Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents

Explore the edition

More from Finance & economics

A ping pong game with a container instead of a ball.

Do tariffs raise inflation?

Usually. But the bigger problem is that they harm economic growth and innovation

A Gulfstream G600 from Hampshire Aviation Company lands at Barcelona Airport in Barcelona, Spain.

European governments struggle to stop rich people from fleeing

Exit taxes are popular, and counter-productive


Eagle claws, getting ready to collect bonds from a top hat.

Saba Capital wages war on underperforming British investment trusts

How many will end up in Boaz Weinstein’s sights?


Has Japan truly escaped low inflation?

Its central bankers are increasingly hopeful

How American bankers dodged the MAGA carnage

The masters of the universe have escaped an anti-globalist revolt