Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Climate change

A crack in the natural-gas bridge

Nature volume 514, pages 436–437 (2014)Cite this article

Subjects

Integrated assessment models show that, without new climate policies, abundant supplies of natural gas will have little impact on greenhouse-gas emissions and climate change. See Letter p.482

Burning fossil fuels such as coal, gas and oil produces more than 80% of the world's energy and more than 90% of global carbon dioxide emissions. Slowing and ultimately stopping climate change depends on decarbonization — the transformation of the global energy system into one that does not dump CO2 into the atmosphere. Because gas-fired power plants emit roughly half as much CO2 per unit of energy produced as coal-fired plants, the greatly expanded gas supplies promised by new hydraulic fracturing (fracking) methods have been celebrated as a means of cutting emissions1. Progressive substitution of gas for coal and oil can thus decarbonize the energy sector2 and serve as a 'bridge' to a more distant future when carbon-free, renewable-energy technologies are more affordable and reliable than they are now3. In this issue, however, McJeon et al.4 (page 482) uncover a serious crack in the gas bridge: in the absence of new climate policies, increased supplies of natural gas may have little effect on CO2 emissions and could actually delay decarbonization of the global energy system.

This is a preview of subscription content

Access options

Buy article

Get time limited or full article access on ReadCube.

$32.00

Buy

All prices are NET prices.

Figure 1: Relative growth of gas and renewable electricity.

References

  1. www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-25705550

  2. Ausubel, J. H., Grübler, A. & Nakicenovic, N. Clim. Change 12, 245–263 (1988).

    CAS  ADS  Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Podesta, J. D. & Wirth, T. E. Natural Gas: A Bridge Fuel for the 21st Century (Center for American Progress, 2009); http://cdn.americanprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/issues/2009/08/pdf/naturalgasmemo.pdf

    Google Scholar 

  4. McJeon, H. et al. Nature 514, 482–485 (2014).

    CAS  ADS  Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Brandt, A. R. et al. Science 343, 733–735 (2014).

    CAS  ADS  Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Huntington, H. EMF26: Changing the Game? Emissions and Market Implications of New Natural Gas Supplies (Energy Modeling Forum, 2013).

    Google Scholar 

  7. Newell, R. G. & Raimi, D. Environ. Sci. Technol. 48, 8360–8368 (2014).

    CAS  ADS  Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Shearer, C., Bistline, J., Inman, M. & Davis, S. J. Environ. Res. Lett. 9, 094008 (2014).

    ADS  Article  Google Scholar 

  9. International Energy Agency. Golden Rules for a Golden Age of Gas (IEA, 2012).

  10. Channell, J., Lam, T. & Pourreza, S. Shale & Renewables: A Symbiotic Relationship (Citi Res., 2012).

    Google Scholar 

  11. Davis, S. J. & Socolow, R. H. Environ. Res. Lett. 9, 084018 (2014).

    ADS  Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Steven J. Davis and Christine Shearer are in the Department of Earth System Science, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, California 92697, USA.,

    Steven J. Davis & Christine Shearer

Authors
  1. Steven J. Davis
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Christine Shearer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Steven J. Davis or Christine Shearer.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Davis, S., Shearer, C. A crack in the natural-gas bridge. Nature 514, 436–437 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature13927

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature13927

Further reading

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing