Attacks on the US LNG Pause are Dangerous and Unfounded – Here’s Why

The recent decision by US President Biden to temporarily pause approvals for upcoming LNG export projects to assess their impacts on human rights and environment has been attacked on both sides of the Atlantic.

But the claims that the pause threatens EU energy security are completely unfounded; on the contrary, locking in decades of even more climate-wrecking fracked LNG is a danger for our energy security and our future as a whole.

Frida Kieninger is Director of EU Affairs at Food & Water Action Europe

Shipments of US gas to Europe have increased massively, replacing some of the Russian supplies in the EU’s gas mix. They have jumped from 22 billion cubic meters (bcm) in 2021 to 56 bcm in 2022, and to 65 bcm in 2023. Those shipments are in no way impacted by the Biden pause, which applies to long-term expansion projects. It is unlikely that ever greater imports are even necessary; EU LNG demand is expected to peak as early as 2025 and even until then, no significant rise of LNG imports is projected. 

At the same time, EU overall gas demand has significantly decreased in the past 18 months, with the bloc consuming 101 bcm or nearly 20% less fossil gas. Furthermore, the EU has committed to further reducing the use of this fossil fuel by the end of this decade. It is also important to note that despite the spike in LNG imports, and the addition of new import terminals, EU LNG import capacities remained largely underutilized: On average, import terminals were used at under 60% in 2023.

Against this background the announced ‘pause’ is not changing a thing. If anything, it is a hopeful sign that there must be some limit to the frenzied buildout of the gas export industry that has already take a serious environmental and public health toll in the impacted communities. 

This is a reminder – if one is necessary – that LNG is not at all the ‘cleaner’ energy source that gas proponents pretend it is. The LNG supply chain is complex, very energy-intensive, and inseparably linked to dangerous methane leaks all the way from well to stove, boiler or industry appliance.

Research into the overall emissions of LNG suggest it is far more climate-polluting than even coal. Almost all U.S. LNG comes from fracking, which leads to even higher methane emissions. All told, this makes the US LNG boom the largest fossil fuel expansion on earth. 

These are the main reasons why, in February, over 500 civil society groups from the U.S. and worldwide have asked the Biden administration to make this pause permanent, and expand it.

Finally, it is essential to recognize that if critics are really worried about our ‘energy security’, that issue is inseparably linked to climate protection. 2023 was the hottest year on record, and the first months in 2024 already broke heat records – another stark reminder that combatting the climate crisis is a priority that has heavy impacts on our overall safety as well as the functioning of our energy system.

Building expensive, unnecessary infrastructure that deepens the climate crisis cannot in any way be considered a ‘secure’ option.

Instead of being complicit in pushing Europe into a deepened LNG dependency, we need the US to establish a transatlantic support mechanism that collaborates on delivering a just, fair and speedy transition to 100% renewables. It is an urgent challenge with an enormous impact on our future, but it can and must be done.