IGU’s Vice President Delivers the Invited Lecture at the 40th International Scientific & Expert Meeting of Gas Professionals

One of the most acclaimed international gas conferences & exhibitions in Central and South-East Europe, this year’s Jubilee edition of the International Scientific & Expert Meeting of Gas Professionals was held in Opatjia, Croatia, and was organised by the Croatian Gas Center and the Croatian Gas Association.

IGU’s Vice President and incoming President – Mr Andrea Stegher - delivered an Invited Lecture on the first day of the event, May 7th, 2025, entitled “The essential role of Gas to power growth and secure a sustainable future”.

In his lecture, Mr Stegher remarked that “natural gas is a fundamental energy resource and is highly contributing to the growing global demand and to emission reduction.  Meeting almost one quarter of the energy requirements of today’s consumers, Gas is an essential pillar of any credible energy dynamics for the long-term future, and investing in Gas is fundamental, and not deferrable, if we want to serve present and future demand both in the developed and developing world.

In fact, with 78% of the global population falling under the 0.8% of UNDP’s Human Development Index, and with an ever-increasing per capita energy demand trend largely driven by the developing economies of Asia, the net-zero commitments and aspiration of the world’s governments can still be met if Gas will be readily deployed to replace higher carbon emitting fuels such as coal and oil.

At the IGU, our mission and mandate received from our members have never been clearer to us: we need to demonstrate, not just to tell the world, that Gas – in all its forms – is essential to human progress and global growth and it is far, far more than “transition fuel”, as many call it. Gas equals energy security, energy affordability, energy availability and energy reliability: we know it, and we lived it ourselves very recently in Europe, not just as Gas experts, but as energy consumers”.

Mr Stegher also took part in a pre-event Press Conference, where he was interviewed by various representatives of the Croatian and European energy news outlets.