Plans to build more gas plants are not new, and the previous government also wanted to expand capacity, but the new targets are around double those of the past.
The new German targets are very bad. What’s really disturbing is that Germany’s new government is following a global trend with this policy.
In 2024, global gas demand rebounded by 2.8%, spurred by China, Russia and the USA
Gas consumption also grew in Canada, in Asia (especially in India, Indonesia, South Korea, and Taiwan), in the Middle East (especially in Iran and Saudi Arabia), and in Africa (especially in Nigeria, Algeria and Egypt). On the contrary, rising carbon-free power generation reduced gas consumption in Japan (-3%) and Australia (-4%), while lower LNG exports reduced gas consumption in liquefaction plants in Qatar.
A new report reveals that a surge in long-term liquefied natural gas contracts from China -the world’s third largest gas consumer behind the US and Russia- is prolonging South-East Asia’s fossil fuel dependency.
This provides quite a bad broader picture.