ENERGY from gas power stations has been rebranded as a green, low-carbon source of power by an €80bn European Union programme, in a triumph of the deep-pocketed fossil fuel industry lobby over renewable forms of power.

In a secret document, a large slice of billions of euros of funds that are supposed to be devoted to research and development into renewables such as solar and wave power are likely to be diverted instead to subsidising the development of the well-established fossil fuel.

The switch follows more than 18 months of intensive lobbying by the European gas industry, which is attempting to rebrand itself as a green alternative to nuclear and coal, and as lower cost than renewable forms of power such as wind and sun.

But green groups warned that relying on gas would raise energy prices and fail to tackle climate change, and could fatally stunt the growth of the renewables industry. Gas is a fossil fuel — but because it generates less carbon dioxide when burned than coal, gas industry lobbyists have been touting the fuel as a lower-carbon alternative to coal.

The gains of switching from coal to gas are shortlived — any gas-fired power stations constructed today would be expected to continue in operation for at least 25 years. That would mean decades of carbon poured into the atmosphere — while scientists and industry experts warn that global emissions must peak by 2020 in order to avoid the worst manifestations of climate change.

The document has been agreed by member states and sets out the framework for Horizon 2020, billed as an €80bn programme for research and innovation for the years 2014 to 2020. Of the funds available, more than €30bn are supposed to flow to “address major concerns shared by all Europeans such as climate change, developing sustainable transport and mobility, making renewable energy more affordable, ensuring food safety and security, or coping with the challenge of an ageing population,” according to the European Commission.

As part of this mission, Horizon 2020 will dispense billions of euros in funds to research and development projects, and is intended to “support research and innovation activities, strengthen the European scientific and technological base and foster benefits for society.”

Clean energy is a key part of this, according to the document: “The specific objective is to make the transition to a reliable, sustainable and competitive energy system, in the face of increasingly scarce resources, increasing energy needs and climate change.”

But the original document has been altered by officials to include explicit references to funding for gas — despite gas being a fossil fuel and a mature technology.

The document refers to an EU roadmap published last year that showed emissions from the power sector would have to be cut by 90 per cent by 2050, to meet the EU's targets. To this has been added a new sentence: “The roadmap also shows that gas, in the short to medium term, can contribute to the transformation of the energy system.” — The Guardian, London