Efforts to stymie the pace of climate change are under threat from an explosion in the number of new liquified natural gas (LNG) export terminals, which have received $213bn (£167bn) of funding in recent years, a report claims.
Climate group Reclaim Finance, which keeps tabs on the activities of financial actors to understand how much money is flowing into fossil fuel projects, said the $213bn distributed to new LNG projects between 2021 and 2023 will ultimately lead to the release of 10GT of “climate-wrecking” greenhouse gas emissions.
The group further warned that emissions from these projects could be more damaging than coal – considered the most carbon-emitting fossil fuel – due to the amount of methane that is released from the production and transport of LNG.
The report found that oil and gas companies such as Shell, TotalEnergies and QatarEnergy are planning significant expansions to their operations, with 156 new LNG terminals to be built by 2030.
These include 63 new export terminals...