The critical importance of a fair and pragmatic clean energy transition was the focus at this year's LPG Week in Rome
The global energy transition to a net zero future has in its early stages largely centred on electrification in the developed world, backed by renewables. The growing realisation that this will neglect a large proportion of people, in particular those in less-developed countries trapped in energy poverty, is galvanising support for a more "just transition" as Cop 28 gets under way.
That was the theme at this year's LPG Week, held in Rome over 13-17 November by the World LPG Association (WLPGA) and Liquid Gas Europe (LGE). LPG straddles the dual nature of a just transition. It is a clean gaseous fuel that enables off-grid buildings in developed countries to move from more-polluting fuels such as coal and heating oil while suppliers invest in developing drop-in renewable replacements such as bioLPG and renewable DME. It is also, perhaps more importantly, a modern cooking fuel for poorer rural populations in the developing world that are still reliant on wood, charcoal and dung.
The duality of the just transition challenge is demonstrated by the LPG industry's difficulties positioning itself in both camps. "As of this week, the World LPG Association will be known as the World Liquid Gas Association," LPG distributor SHV Energy's chief executive and WLPGA president Bram Graber said during the conference's opening — the WLPGA has yet to make an official announcement but the change looks likely to happen in the new year. Abandoning "petroleum" from LPG — similarly to the LGE, once the AEGPL — makes sense in an increasingly competitive advocacy arena such as the EU, where rival energy sectors touting their respective green credentials are striving to be heard by policy makers. But it seems to gloss over the vital message that cleaner petroleum products are needed in the developing world as a stepping stone to currently unattainable alternatives.
The overarching message to policy makers should be that we urgently need to pursue a step-by-step transition to cleaner energy in poorer parts of the world. The benefits of doing so are hard to quantify for those unable to power their homes with renewables-generated electricity, let alone any electricity at all. With the UN's Cop 28 climate conference in the UAE under way, this message is more critical than ever.
Don't leave me this way
A just transition means we "don't leave anyone behind", SHV Energy's Graber told the audience during LPG Week's opening. His counterpart at the LGE and the head of French LPG association the FGL, Audrey Galland, said the industry must "ensure a reliable and just solution that is eternal". What is needed is "fairness" and more emphasis on the less fortunate, who are "understandably likely to resist" a move to more expensive and less accessible energy options, Italian economist and member of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, Stefano Zamagani, said.
India's successes in transitioning lower-income households from wood and charcoal to LPG through the government's PMUY scheme was once again lauded. The programme is expected to reach 100mn homes by December, according to state-controlled refiner IOC's marketing director Satish Kumar. This has provided huge health and social benefits, predominantly for women.
Around 4mn people die prematurely every year from household air pollution "because we have mostly women cooking like it is still the stone age", the World Health Organisation's environment, climate change and health director Dr Maria Neira told attendees. The issue continues to be one of the most overlooked in the world, NGO the Clean Cooking Alliance's (CCA) chief executive, Dymphna Van der Lans, said, with nearly half of all people lacking access to clean cooking. As well as the "tremendous health benefits", transitioning would bring immediate climate benefits thanks to the reduction in CO2 and soot emissions from unsustainably sourced solid biomass, she said. "LPG has a huge role to play, and as a global community we need to invest more in clean cooking."
The problem is how you approach this given the multiple competing interests, and differing political structures, regulatory environments and cultural practices. What works for India — where the PMUY scheme is government led and backed by subsidies — will not work for somewhere like Kenya, Van der Lans said. What is needed in places like this is a predictable policy environment for companies working with "really thin margins", she said. But not only stable policies but supportive ones, Graber added, providing the examples of Bangladesh and Brazil.
Bangladesh's LPG penetration is about 20pc, but this could triple in the coming years thanks to a good regulatory framework and health and safety standards, combined with the space for commercial enterprises to invest, according to Graber. In Brazil, up to 80pc of people in large cities use LPG for cooking, yet the industry has been able to develop a system that enables customers to receive replacement supplies in as little as 15-20 minutes. So it is equally important that policy makers do not disrupt functioning markets and undo the progress being made, he said.
In order to foster the transition to LPG in the developing world, the industry must work more with not only governments but NGOs, community groups and research institutions, Zamagani said. The CCA has collaborated with the IEA for the past 12 months on clean cooking, including LPG, and is now coming out "more forcibly" to call for significant investment, Van der Lans added. This includes getting the EU and its member states to invest in sub-Saharan Africa, and in doing so moving a third of its population to clean cooking by 2030. But the LPG industry should also be jumping at "fantastic business opportunities" in the global south, she said.
Power to the people
In the EU, where the challenge is protecting well-established markets that are trying to develop renewable alternatives, getting the involvement of consumers in the policy debate is crucial, according to Galland. Reversals in proposed bans on the sale of gas boilers in countries such as France and the UK attest to a growing recognition of their plight. Ultimately, customers need pragmatic and scaleable solutions now, Graber said.
Governments need to do more to support investment in renewable alternatives to natural gas and LPG. But it is "useless" doing so if the fuels will be unaffordable, Graber acknowledged. This is why R&D spending is so important, and why waste feedstocks could be so effective as they are either "zero cost or negative cost, and you solve another problem by utilising it", he said. Sceptics often cite the price point of renewable LPG and DME, not to mention lack of supplies, as the sticking point. But LPG prices have been at $200-1,200/t over the past 4-6 years, a space "we can manoeuvre in" in finding renewable supplies, Graber said.
