And it's not electricity.

Declared by the ACT government as a "polluting fossil fuel" in its recently released climate change strategy, natural gas - or methane - appears to have been given a termination notice under the territory's aspirations to zero emissions.

But there are those who believe otherwise and the proof is in the same city which Canberra greatly aspires to emulate: Copenhagen.

In Denmark, the world's biggest project of its type is under way which aims to achieve a 40-50 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by injecting renewable gas into the existing network, a conversion process known as "power to gas".

The ACT government has painted natural gas, piped in from Bass Strait and Mooma, South Australia, as a "dirty" fuel that has outlasted its usefulness.

As part of its 100 per cent zero emission target, it is pulling as many levers as it can to get consumers to switch off a product that has been around since 1981 and is supported by a network that, by national standards, has decades of usefulness left in it.

Provided, of course, "dirty" gas can somehow be made clean.

Much of the government effort is directed toward consumer awareness and behavioural change. Some 14 per cent of ACT consumers have already dumped natural gas in favour of electricity.

Many homes in Tuggeranong use natural gas for heating. But replacing gas heaters with electric has been part of a government push that has channelled 74,000 households and businesses into the its rebates and incentives scheme in the past six years.

Yet in a backblocks of Fyshwick, a stone's throw from where the ACT government is establishing a hydrogen refuelling station for electric vehicles, energy supply company Evoenergy has been testing ways of repurposing its infrastructure.

There is about 5000 kilometres of gas piping under Canberra and 85 per cent of it is nylon. With safety as a primary consideration, Evoenergy had to make sure that putting something different into the system was not going to cause leaks, cracks and deterioration.

It also had to train and educate gas fitters and installers about how the current gas network would be serviced if there was a switch in the product it delivered.

"We've been injecting 210 kilopascals, or about the same pressure as you put in a car tyre, of pure hydrogen into our test system since March without a problem," Evoenergy's branch manager Bruce Hansen said.

"What that tells us is there are fewer safety issues with this product than with natural gas.

"We're getting ready for the next phase, which is to introduce mixed gases and steadily convert the network to renewable gas.

"We could easily have a 50 per cent renewable gas, including 10 per cent hydrogen, ready to go in the network by 2030."

Bio-methane, produced by sewage and rotting material, is a common product and well-suited. The product is already being small scale tested in the ACT with a new landfill gas-to-energy station being built at the Mugga Lane tip, which will produce over 1 megawatt per hour.

"Around 70 per cent of Canberra is connected to the gas network so there's a massive opportunity here for an existing network to be given a purpose which fits with the government's long-term plans," Mr Hansen said.

"We can make it work with a comprehensive business plan, government offsets and technical collaboration."