The health, economic and environmental implications of natural gas

This research will contribute to a more complete narrative for why a rapid and sustainable energy transition is needed. Critically, this work will question the calls for a medium-term reliance on natural gas as a transition fuel.

There are legitimate cases for gas as a transitory fuel, but large-scale investment over the next few decades will prevent the world from reaching the 1.5oC climate target, will increase air pollution and negative health impacts, and will increase the risk of stranded assets.

This work will explore optimal urban transition pathways for gas (given that cities are key markets for natural gas), balancing the benefits of gas as a transition fuel with the need for a rapid transition to clean energy.

Acknowledging the complexity of such a transition in the various different global contexts of C40 cities, we will develop a number of optimal transition pathways, creating decarbonisation narratives that reflect climate, health and development needs.

Project aim: to model the optimal pathways for a sustainable and equitable transition away from natural gas (based on modelling climate, air quality, health and economic impacts), and utilise the research results to enable cities to make the case for change at COP27.