The gas lobby’s boiler battle

As Europe’s representatives prepare to vote on the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive in March 2023, this report reveals:
• The connections between the gas lobby and some of the most pivotal figures in the debate over the future of domestic gas consumption in Europe, with evidence that suggests some MEPs contacted by lobbying groups repeat arguments on hybrid solutions and hydrogen made by lobbyists and astroturfing campaigns.
• The gas industry’s undeclared front organisations, such as Rural Futures, seeking to influence the vote in Brussels and beyond, with Lobbying firms using loopholes in the European Commision and the European Parliament’s transparency rules to hold unregistered meetings and events.
• Attempts to paint the question of the future of domestic heating as a city versus countryside issue.
• The unscientific messaging on “green hydrogen”, “renewable fuels” and “hybrid boilers” spread by the gas lobby.

Better Without Boilers is a coalition between the European Environmental Bureau, the Environmental Coalition on Standards and Green Transition Denmark. It calls upon the EU and European leaders to support the shift away from oil and gas boilers to cleaner, more affordable alternatives for Europeans to heat their homes.