Assogasliquidi-Federchimica, a very difficult year and a half for LPG

The LPG sector has experienced a very difficult year and a half. In the combustion sector, the decrease in consumption in 2020 was contained, about 1.5% compared to 2019. In the first 5 months of the year, there are slight signs of recovery, with an increase of 3.5% compared to to the same period of the previous year. This is what emerged today on the occasion of the Assogasliquidi-Federchimica assembly “Scenarios of decarbonization and sustainability: the role of liquefied LPG and LNG gases”. For this sector, the assembly emerged, a revision of the incentive policies for the use of biomass in domestic heating systems is increasingly urgent in relation to the need for environmental policies to combine the objectives of reducing CO2 emissions with those of improvement of air quality. The automotive sector, following the measures to restrict the mobility of people, is instead much more impacted, registering a decrease of 21.2% in 2020. Also the first five months of 2021, compared to 2019, they show a decrease of -25%. With about 2.7 million vehicles in circulation, LPG is the first among the alternative fuels, representing 63% of the alternative fleet in circulation and 7% of the total: despite this, the crisis has produced serious losses. distribution where, thanks to private investments by companies in the sector, stimulated by the regulatory provisions of the Dafi directive, the points of sale have reached 4,348 with excellent articulation throughout the national territory. economic support for the conversion of the Euro 4 and 5 vehicle fleet to gas, the confirmation of the incentives for the purchase of new low-emission vehicles, the maintenance of the principle of technological neutrality in the definition of policies for the achievement of EU objectives. It is also necessary that the assessment of the emission impacts of the different feeds takes place from a Well To Wheel or Life Cycle Assessment perspective, also to make the most of the development of biofuels (such as bio and renewable LPG, bioGnl and Biomethane).