Fig. 1: Development of natural gas utilities worldwide.

a Kilometres of gas pipelines worldwide at the end of 2022. The size of each sector on the left indicates the operating length of gas pipelines in a region, while that on the right denotes the length of gas pipelines in development, reflecting the growth momentum of gas infrastructure. b Global power generation and the proportion of natural gas in 2010 and 2020. The size of each sector indicates the annual power generation in a region, while the dashed area denotes the proportion generated by natural gas. Data are retrieved from the literature46,47. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.