A big deal in which the US will increase gas supplies to Europe to turn away from Russian fossil fuel imports risks a “catastrophe” for the climate crisis, environmental groups have warned.
Under the agreement unveiled on Friday, the US will supply an additional 15 billion cubic meters of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to the European Union this year. That’s about a tenth of the gas the EU now gets from Russia, which provides 40% of the bloc’s total gas supply.
Increased gas exports from the US will continue to escalate, with the EU aiming to import 50 billion cubic meters of gas a year from America and other countries to reduce its dependence on Russia following its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
Joe Biden, who announced the deal during a trip to Brussels, said the increased supply will ensure “families in Europe get through this winter” while handicapping Vladimir Putin, who has been using the gas proceeds to “power his war machine”.
However, environmental groups have reacted with alarm to the deal, arguing it will help embed future gas use for years to come, while scientists say the world must phase out fossil fuel use quickly to avoid catastrophic climate change.
“We should move quickly to affordable clean energy and not double down on fossil fuels,” said Kelly Sheehan, senior director of energy campaigns at the Sierra Club. “Reducing dependence on fossil fuels is the only way to stop being vulnerable to the whims of greedy industries and geopolitics.”
The US has become a net exporter of energy in recent years, with fracking technology helping to harness its vast gas reserves. Frozen into LNG, this gas can be loaded onto ships and exported all over the world. The US is already almost full for the amount they can ship.
However, there are 16 proposed LNG terminals along the US Gulf of Mexico coast that have already received the necessary federal permits to proceed with construction. The deal with the EU could make these projects, which would take several years, possibly decades, to build and operate, appear more viable than before.
“Allowing the deployment of new and expanded gas export facilities would perpetuate decades of reliance on risky, volatile fossil fuels and spell disaster for our climate and already-stretched Gulf Coast communities,” Sheehan said.
Biden has insisted the plan will not jeopardize his climate goals, claiming that the war in Ukraine will act as a “catalyst” for renewable energy deployment.
The US and EU have pledged to work together to push permits for solar and wind projects, patch leaks in gas pipelines that emit methane, a potent greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere, and work on energy efficiency measures that will reduce demand for fossil fuels will decrease.
But climate activists are warning that time is running out to avoid catastrophic global warming. The International Energy Agency has said that if the planet is to avoid 1.5C warming beyond the pre-industrial age, no new fossil-fuel infrastructure can be built globally, a point scientists say will cause dangerous heatwaves, flooding , droughts and wildfires will increase dramatically and displace people.
“Pushing new toxic export facilities and more methane gas for decades is a death sentence for those on the front lines of the climate emergency, and it won’t solve Europe’s current crisis,” said Kassie Siegel, director of the Center for Biodiversity’s Institute for Climate Law.
“Permitting more export terminals, pipelines and fossil fuel production only adds fuel to the fire of our burning world.”