Europe faces the prospect of higher electricity bills and a supply crunch, as utilities struggle to finance new gas-fired power plants unless they meet tougher emissions criteria imposed by banks pressured to stop financing fossil-fuel projects. The region’s utilities already anticipate power supply problems as they phase out coal and nuclear generation and ageing infrastructure . International producers have for well over a decade said gas was a necessary transition fuel on the journey to decarbonisation. But increased urgency to halt climate change and the scaling up of renewable technology have left investors and policymakers hesitating over plans for large new plants in the region. The falling cost of renewable energy and the potential of emerging technologies, such as hydrogen, is at the front of policymakers’ minds, pushing gas out of favour as they legislate even more ambitious climate targets. Natural gas produces roughly half the carbon dioxide emissions […]