International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy ISSN: 2146-4553 available at http: www.econjournals.com International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, 2020, 10(4), 463-472. The Role of Natural Gas in Achieving Sustainable Development Goals Oleg E. Aksyutin1, Alexander G. Ishkov1,2, Konstantin V. Romanov1, Vladimir A. Grachev3,4* 1Gazprom PJSC, BOX 1255, St. Petersburg 190900, Russian Federation, 2UNESCO Chair “Green Chemistry for Sustainable Development,” D. Mendeleev University of Chemical Technology of Russia, 9, Miusskaya Sq., Moscow 125047, Russian Federation, 3Global Ecology Center, Faculty of Global Studies, Lomonosov Moscow State University, 1, Building 13A, Leninskiye Gory, Moscow 119991, Russian Federation, 4Department of System Ecology, Ecological Faculty, RUDN University, 8, Building 5, Podolskoye Shosse, Moscow 115093, Russian Federation. *Email: [email protected] Received: 04 February 2020 Accepted: 06 May 2020 DOI: https://doi.org/10.32479/ijeep.9359 ABSTRACT Natural gas started to have an increasingly tangible impact on human civilization in the second half of the 20th century, and today it has come to the forefront, affecting the implementation of practically all sustainable development goals. In this work, the systemic analysis of the natural gas influence on sustainable development not only for specific purposes but also for pillars of sustainable development has been conducted: economic development, social sphere, and environmental protection, which in cooperation generate allowable, fair and acceptable states. As a result of the analysis, it has been found that natural gas, unlike other types of fuel and nonfuel sources of energy, possesses the highest rates of all three states, and it is the most powerful means for sustainable development goals achievement both at the present and, in combination with nature-like technologies of obtaining energy, in the future sustainable development of human civilization. Keywords: Natural Gas, Sustainable Development, Sustainable Development Goals, Sustainable Development State, Nature-like Energy Sources, Energy Power JEL Classifications: Q400, Q480, Q490, Q540 1. INTRODUCTION Therefore, the scientific substantiation of natural gas benefits in SDGs implementation is a pressing scientific challenge. We will Natural gas, that had conceived development as a source of energy support its usefulness not only for each of 17 SDGs but as a whole in the second half of the 20th century and became one of the leaders in terms of sustainable development states indicators characterizing of energy sources in the 21st century, is recognized as a means their acceptability, fairness, and allow ability for modern civilization. of achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs). However, The relevance of this issue is associated with the attempts to along with the fact that natural gas has already superseded coal discredit the environmental advantages of natural gas and the as an energy source in certain regions of the world, it has become need to demonstrate an objective contribution of the gas industry a target of criticism and attempts to declare “the beginning of to achieving SDGs. the end of the hydrocarbons’ era.” This sets the target to protect natural gas from such attempts by scientific methods of systemic The research goal is to analyze the role of natural gas in sustainable analysis, despite the obvious absurdity of the allegations about development for each of its components: economic, environmental “the beginning of the end.” and social ones. This Journal is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy | Vol 10 • Issue 4 • 2020 463 Aksyutin, et al.: The Role of Natural Gas in Achieving Sustainable Development Goals Research objectives: (Martynov et al., 2017). This is primarily because natural gas is 1. To carry out a systemic analysis of the economic, environmental the most energetically efficient and environmentally clean fossil and social factors of sustainable development when using fuel (Kucherov et al., 2015). different sources of energy 2. To examine the role of each SDG in terms of natural gas role The conducted analysis of the dynamics of the energy generation in SDG achieving structure in the world over the past 35 years has shown that the 3. To compare sustainable development indicators characterizing proportion of natural gas extraction has grown at the fastest rate their states when using natural gas in all economic sectors. among all types of generated energy and was 4.5 % (Kucherov et al., 2015). 2. ISSUE STATUS An Atlas was published about the interconnection between In 2015, the UN general assembly adopted the resolution on natural gas and SDGs, i.e. the set of all relationships of natural “transforming our world: The 2030 agenda for sustainable gas and SDGs (IPIECA et al., 2017). The Atlas is a joint project development” (United Nations, 2015). All 17 SDGs are connected of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the one way or another with the increasing demand for energy, and International Finance Corporation of the World Bank Group there is an ongoing dispute about which energy sources are (IFC) and IPIECA, global oil and gas industry association for the most effective for SDGs accomplishment (World Health environmental and social issues. The Atlas discusses the links Organization, 2018). between the oil and gas industry and SDGs. It contributes to an understanding of how the oil and gas industry can most effectively Figure 1 sets forth the SDGs briefly, but they clearly represent the support SDGs achievement. It displays the existing contributions entire spectrum of human relationships, their economic and social of the industry and encourages companies to identify additional life, and conditions of existence, i.e., environmental component. opportunities to assist countries in SDGs achievement. The Atlas may also help oil and gas companies and their stakeholders to Many works have been dedicated to the role of natural gas as a basis develop a common understanding of how the industry manages of sustainable energy power development (BP, 2017b; Gazprom, environmental and social issues while maximizing economic 2016; Kucherov et al., Martynov et al., 2017; 2015; U.S. Census benefits. How do companies integrate SDGs in their core business? Bureau, 2018). From 1981 to 2015, the energy power production The SDGs range provides that business is to go beyond social in the world had grown twice – from 6.68 to 13.23 billion tons of investment and corporate philanthropy for long-term sustainability. oil equivalent, while a steady growth in the generation of all types Thus, discussion of each goal in this Atlas comprises ways of energy power had been observed. During the same period, the and possibilities of integrating contributions to SDGs in the Earth population had grown from 4.5 to 7 billion people – slightly core business of a company. Many of the problems the SDGs more than 1.5 times. Thus, we can say that over the past 35 years implementation faces go beyond the capability or control of a the growth rate of energy generation has exceeded 1.3 times the separate company and are beyond its core business needs. growth rate of the world population, and this trend will apparently continue in the medium term. This is an inevitable consequence When developing the Atlas, its authors have found that the oil of the present stage of scientific and technological progress and and gas industry can contribute to all 17 SDGs. However, there the resulting accelerated growth in energy consumption in 2015 are some SDGs, in which the industry has particularly strong opportunities for participation, for example, goals related to Figure 1: Sustainable development scheme affordable and reliable energy (SDG 7); climate and life below water and on land (SDGs 13, 14 and 15); economic development and innovation (SDGs 8 and 9); and health and access to clean water (SDGs 3 and 6). Many goals are interrelated. A good example is the climate change sector. Although it is included as a separate SDG, it has implications for all 17 SDGs. Climate change may disproportionately affect the poorest and most vulnerable population segment, undermining the efforts to eradicate poverty (SDG 1), achieve gender equality (SDG 5), and reduce disparities among and within countries (SDG 10). Climate change may threaten food security (SDG 2), increase the load on water resources (SDG 6), and change ecosystems and harm biodiversity (SDG 14 and SDG 15). It can also change the structure of infectious diseases’ spreading and thus affect global human health (SDG 3). All these effects could threaten the world and our safety (SDG 16). At the same time, the response to climate change may also contribute to progress in respect of other SDGs, for example by improving the energy efficiency and renewable energy and technologies’ investments (SDG 7) that can open new economic opportunities (SDG 8) (IPIECA et al., 2017). 464 International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy | Vol 10 • Issue 4 • 2020 Aksyutin, et al.: The Role of Natural Gas in Achieving Sustainable Development Goals The work by International Gas Union and Eurogas (2015) Public Policy, 2004). Gas is transported over long distances for also represents a detailed analysis of SDGs. It has been shown consumption in various sectors of the economy. The growing that SDGs provide a guiding framework for society as they importance of natural gas imports for the