Lawmakers ban fossil gas from EU funding

Voting sessions on Tuesday ended with Lawmakers in the European Parliament deciding to remove support for fossil gas in EU funding rules for cross-border energy infrastructure known as the TEN-E regulation.

The TEN-E regulation features a guideline that helps the European Union decide on which cross-border energy infrastructure projects to finance. 

To qualify, projects must be deemed to be of common interest, following the framework of the TEN-E Regulation. This gives room for quicker permitting and a €5.8 billion pot of money exempt from EU state aid rules.

Following a deal passed in the Parliament’s energy committee on Tuesday, natural gas infrastructure will not qualify for EU funding anymore, under the revised regulation.

The lawmakers however added a caveat allowing gas infrastructure already approved under the EU’s 4th and 5th list of projects of common interest.

Such projects will have access to EU funding as long as they help member states transition away from more polluting fossil fuels, like coal, lignite, peat, and oil shale.