Central to the fossil fuel industry’s PR offensive is the new dash for gas, kick-started by the Russian war on Ukraine and Moscow’s decision to limit gas supplies to Europe.

For the Gas Exporting Countries Forum, an alliance of 17 big gas producers including Egypt, COP27 was “a great opportunity to make a case for gas in the energy transition.”

Delusional

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February, plans to build 26 new import terminals for liquefied natural gas (LNG) have been announced in Europe; the EU has signed a deal with Egypt and Israel to support gas extraction in the East Mediterranean Sea and European politicians have sought gas project deals with African nations.

Once a gas project is decided on, it can take up to 10 years before production starts. So Europe’s supply gap this year and next will be filled, if at all, by existing producers such as Qatar, the U.S. and Australia, not by new projects.

The danger is that, over the next decade, those projects will push the world still further from the goal of limiting global heating to 1.5 degrees Celsius (1.5°C) above pre-industrial levels.

This year’s United Nations climate summit is the first to which oil and gas companies were invited to participate in the official program of events.

The International Energy Agency says that, to hit “net zero” targets, there can be no new gas or oil fields, and that gas demand must be slashed; UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in June…