The Gas Greenwashers

Nominee two in our Fossil Heating Greenwashing Awards are the “Gas Greenwashers”. 

Gas greenwashing comes in many forms. Sometimes it involves downright lies about the nature of fossil gas itself. Sometimes the gas industry tries to make itself look sustainable by filling its adverts with pictures of nature while talking about its (proportionally tiny) investments in non-fossil energy sources while its core business continues to be in fossil gas. 

The fossil fuel industry and its supporters love to promote myths that fossil gas (commonly referred to as natural gas) is a “clean fuel”, or that it can act as a “bridge fuel” in the energy transition. In reality, nothing could be further from the truth. Stopping climate breakdown is only possible by keeping all fossil fuels, including gas, in the ground. 

Here we highlight some specific examples of companies, lobby groups or politicians whose devious efforts have made the “Gas Greenwashers” worthy of a nomination for our Fossil Heating Award.

Gas Networks Ireland Advertising

Gas Networks Ireland (GNI) has been running a major advertising campaign featuring a video where it is clearly trying to persuade people that it is going green. Its video features trees, blue skies and anaerobic digesters and talks about “moving Ireland’s energy in a circular way…bringing more sustainable sources into the pipeline”. But, in reality the vast majority of gas in the GNI networks is still fossil gas.

Gas Networks Ireland’s focus on biogas and biomethane on its website and in its adverts is also concerning. Firstly, a tiny fraction of the gas in the GNI network is actually biomethane. Secondly, claims that biomethane is a “carbon-neutral renewable gas” and therefore perfectly sustainable are misleading. The sustainability of biomethane cannot be guaranteed. There are concerns around methane leakage in biomethane systems; methane is an incredibly potent greenhouse gas with a global warming potential that is more than 80 times higher than carbon dioxide over a 20-year timeframe.

There are also concerns around land-use and the scalability of biogas use. Research by Friends of the Earth USA has found that support for biogas can end up incentivizing unsustainable forms of agriculture, diverting resources away from true climate solutions and generating public health risks by causing more toxic air pollution than is produced by fossil gas.

Leo Varadkar’s concerning words about Carbon Capture and Storage

Carbon Capture and Storage or CCS has been proposed as a means of reducing carbon emissions. The theory behind this process is that we could capture carbon dioxide before it enters the atmosphere and then pump it underground for long term storage. Despite decades of research and huge amounts of funding, Carbon Capture and Storage still remains unproven at scale and is doing much more harm than good by giving the fossil fuel industry and world governments an excuse to continue burning fossil fuels. 

At the COP28 Climate Talks in December 2023 Leo Varadkar expressed a concerning openness to Carbon Capture and Storage, raising concerns that his faith in this distracting false solution could be used as an excuse to not break our dependence on gas and other fossil fuels. In the end the final COP28 text was riddled with loopholes, leaving the door open to letting the fossil fuel industry continue business as usual under the cover of false solutions such as Carbon Capture and Storage.

The Canadian Energy Centre's greenwashing adverts in The Irish Times

Canadian fossil fuel companies have significant interests in Ireland. Canadian companies own Vermillion, which has a leading stake in the Corrib gas field, and Irving Oil, which owns the Whitegate Oil refinery in Cork. Top Oil, which has a network of heating oil depots located across Ireland, is also owned by Irving Oil. The Irish Times has published huge half page adverts by the Canadian Energy Centre, a marketing body for Canadian oil and gas, that made absurd claims trying to link oil and gas with “climate action” and environmental “responsibility”.