Mitigating climate change requires fundamentally redesigned energy systems in which renewable energy sources ultimately replace fossil fuels such as natural gas. In this context, the question how and to which extent the gas sector can contribute to an increasingly climate-neutral future EU energy system is heavily debated among scholars, energy industry experts, and policy makers. We take a two-step approach: we begin with a review of studies from energy industry and academia to discuss potential gas sector contributions from a holistic energy system design point of view; this is followed by a comprehensive discussion of technical potentials, micro-economic conditions, and societal implications of renewable gas. We then enrich our findings with the results of an empirical focus group process. The gas sector can not only contribute to balancing volatile renewable energy production but also enable the supply of renewable energy to end-users in gaseous form; based on existing infrastructure. This could reduce costs for society, increase public acceptance, and ultimately speed up the energy system transformation. There is the theoretical technical potential to substitute major parts of natural gas with renewable gas of biogenic and synthetic nature. This, however, crucially requires a supportive policy framework like the one established for renewable electricity. Given the societal benefits and the competitiveness of renewable gas as compared to renewable alternatives, energy policy makers should incorporate renewable gas and the existing gas infrastructure in the future energy system framework. The objective should be an optimized interplay of various energy vectors and their infrastructure along the entire energy supply chain. This requires a level playing field for different renewable technologies across different policy areas and a form of public support that strikes the balance between facilitating the gradual substitution of natural gas by renewable gas while maintaining public acceptance for this transformation despite higher costs for end-users.

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天然气行业如何以及在何种程度上对气候中立的欧洲能源系统做出贡献？定性方法

缓解气候变化需要从根本上重新设计能源系统，其中可再生能源最终替代化石燃料，例如天然气。在这种情况下，学者，能源行业专家和政策制定者对天然气行业如何以及在多大程度上对气候中和的未来欧盟能源体系做出贡献这一问题进行了激烈的辩论。我们采取两步走的方法：首先回顾能源行业和学术界的研究，从整体能源系统设计的角度讨论天然气行业的潜在贡献；接下来是对技术潜力，微观经济条件以及可再生气体的社会影响的全面讨论。然后，我们将根据经验小组讨论的结果丰富我们的发现。天然气部门不仅可以帮助平衡挥发性可再生能源的生产，还可以以气态形式向最终用户供应可再生能源；基于现有基础架构。这可以降低社会成本，提高公众的接受度，并最终加快能源系统的转型。有理论上的技术潜力，可以用生物和合成性质的可再生气体替代天然气的主要部分。但是，这至关重要地需要一个支持性的政策框架，例如为可再生电力而建立的框架。鉴于可再生气体与可再生能源相比具有社会效益和竞争力，能源政策制定者应将可再生气体和现有的天然气基础设施纳入未来的能源系统框架。目标应该是在整个能源供应链中优化各种能源矢量及其基础设施之间的相互作用。这需要在不同政策领域为不同的可再生技术提供公平的竞争环境，并需要一种公共支持的形式，在促进最终用可再生天然气替代天然气的同时，尽管最终用户的成本较高，仍要保持公众对这种转化的接受，这两者之间要取得平衡。