Policy Brief

The future of natural gas in the Danube Region

Published: 11 of April, 2021
  • Import dependency in the Danube Region (DR) is very high - on average (76%) - and above 80% in 10 out of the 14 DR countries.
  • The share of gas consumption in DR is similar to the EU28 (~24%) while coal is much higher - 26% compared to 14%
    There is a common strategy to replace existing coal fuel units with more efficient gas or RES, however, the goals are not ambitious
  • Gas will have a prominent role in the building sector since there is no competing decarbonised alternative outlined in policies
  • Countries with gas production show signs of last minute panic: the producing countries in DR encourage accelerated resource development while it is still possible, before natural gas gets fully outdated by the decarbonization agenda
  • There is contradiction between plans to reduce gas consumption (AT, CZ, DE, HU, HR) while committing significant resources (EUR 9.5 billion) to gas infrastructure mostly linked to the Russian diversification strategy.



This policy brief is part of a series based on the study National Energy and Climate Plans of the Danube Region commissioned by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Hungary in 2020. Other policy briefs cover the electricity (2021/04), heating and cooling (2021/06) and transport sectors (2021/07).

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