Hi All – We’ve extended the deadline on our Biden-Stop-LNG sign on to Thursday, December 7. If you haven’t already signed your organization on, please do consider it. (And if you have signed on, then thank you 😊!). Sign-on here. We especially welcome sign-on’s from groups outside the US, as the letter could use a stronger global voice in telling Biden to stop his LNG export binge. The letter and intro follow below…

Thanks again,

Karen

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The United State is both the world’s largest exporter of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) and the largest historic greenhouse gas emitter. As COP 28 kicks off, please sign on to this letter calling on the Biden Administration to end the permitting of new LNG terminals in the U.S. and to stop financial and diplomatic support for projects internationally.  A copy of the letter is also pasted below.

Deadline for sign-on is Monday, Dec. 4 at 5 pm New York time. We welcome sign-on’s from groups all over the world, both inside and outside the US.

Please join us in urging the Biden Administration to publicly commit during the COP to no further regulatory, financial, or diplomatic support for LNG in the U.S. or anywhere in the world.

Thanks very much,

Karen Orenstein

Global LNG COP sign-on

Dear U.S. President Joseph Biden:

The United States arrives at the COP 28 climate negotiations as both the world’s largest exporter of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) and the largest historic greenhouse gas emitter. This is a dangerous combination for the global climate crisis.

On behalf of XX organizations around the globe, we call on the Biden Administration to end the permitting of new LNG terminals in the U.S. and to stop financial and diplomatic support for projects internationally.  

The global expansion of LNG infrastructure is locking in decades of emissions–endangering the health of people and the planet today and for generations to come, exacerbating environmental injustice in historically marginalized communities, and entrenching fossil fuel sacrifice zones. The Gulf Coast of the U.S. and communities on the frontlines of shale extraction continue to bear the brunt of Big Oil’s export ambitions, multiplying existing harms. Meanwhile, in importing countries, U.S. LNG competes with renewables and justifies new polluting infrastructure.  

Merely from facilities already under construction, LNG exports from the U.S. are expected to double by 2027. The danger is further magnified by the pipeline of proposed but not yet permitted projects, such as the mammoth Calcasieu Pass 2 (CP2) LNG Terminal in Cameron Parish, Louisiana. These pending projects threaten to lock-in an annual 1500 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emissions — equivalent to over 1000 new coal plants. 

Much has been made of COP 28 and its expected emphasis on methane. Although leakage across the LNG supply chain helps make the fuel substantially worse than coal, reducing methane is not a silver bullet and risks justifying further industry expansion. In order to be truly effective, commitments to address methane must be paired with commitments to completely phase out fossil fuels.  

The explosion of LNG exports from the U.S. represents an extreme grab of the limited carbon budget remaining to constrain global temperature rise to under 1.5 degrees Celsius, an especially egregious move considering that the US has already used up far more than its fair share. 

Any push for a phase-out of all fossil fuels at COP 28 risks falling flat if the world's leading LNG exporter shows no signs of changing course. We urge the Biden Administration to publicly commit during the COP to no further regulatory, financial, or diplomatic support for LNG in the U.S. or anywhere in the world. 

Sincerely,