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Does natural gas need a decarbonisation strategy? The cases of the Netherlands and the UK / Floris van Foreest. Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, May 2011, 48 p. (NG 51)http://www.oxfordenergy.org/wpcms/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/NG-51.pdfA commonly heard  view from European gas stakeholders is that low carbon supply sources –  renewables, nuclear power and coal with carbon capture and storage – on  the scale necessary to achieve carbon reduction targets over the next  decade will be unrealistically expensive, and that gas will inevitably  become the “default” choice for future power generation. Floris van  Foreest’s study challenges this assumption and asks whether natural gas  needs a decarbonisation strategy, and what such a strategy might look  like in terms of: carbon capture and storage, “renewable gas” and  back-up for intermittent renewable energy. It specifically asks whether  the natural gas industry can expect to prosper in a low carbon economy  without making any specific decarbonisation commitments. With virtually  all national, EU and NGO/academic energy roadmaps and scenarios  projecting a declining share for gas in European energy balances, the  industry needs to carefully examine both its assumptions and investments  in relation to the carbon footprint of natural gas. (© OIES)