The rights and wrongs of investing in natural gas

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°”.European institutions cannot agree on the question among themselves. The European Commission’s proposal for a “green taxonomy”, a classification scheme that aims to guide sustainability-minded investors, says the fuel can count as green provided it acts as a “bridge” to more renewable sources. The European Investment Bank (), the ’s state-backed lender, by contrast, has virtually ruled out investing in natural gas as inconsistent with its climate commitments.