Professor Barry McMullin:

We already rely on gas for backing up variable renewables and that cannot be turned around in six months or a year. The argument is whether it can be turned around in five years, 15 years or 30 years. We have to get down to that level of detail. The urgency of climate action means we do not have 30 years. Gas will continue to be used for a finite period of time as backup but we need to make it as short as possible. The way to do that is to aggressively build out the alternative which in our case, excluding nuclear, is synthesis of chemical fuels.