COP27: Sierra Club Statement On Climate Action Tracker LNG Analysis

SHARM EL-SHEIKH -- This morning at COP27, Climate Action Tracker released a new analysis that found that the carbon emissions from all under-construction, approved, and proposed Liquefied Methane (“natural”) Gas (LNG) projects between 2021-2050 will use up 10 percent of the remaining carbon budget, dramatically overshooting the emissions reductions needed to stay below 1.5 degrees Celsius. New or expanded LNG export capacity in the US will do nothing to address current energy security issues and would only lock us into decades of gas extraction and processing that harms frontline communities and is a disaster for the climate. 

Climate Action Tracker’s analysis on the climate implications of global LNG buildout complements the Sierra Club analysis on US LNG export facilities. In the US alone, lifecycle emissions from full operation of the existing and proposed US LNG export facilities would contribute to the climate crisis as much as 640 coal plants or 515 million cars, according to the Sierra Club analysis and our new US LNG Tracker tool.

In response, Sierra Club Senior Director of Energy Campaigns Kelly Sheehan released the following statement:

“Europe already has a glut of US-sourced gas that they do not currently have the capacity to process or save. Yet gas companies continue to peddle the lie that we need to export more gas while they jack up prices ahead of the winter heating season. CAT’s analysis is further confirmation that true energy security will be achieved through the clean energy transition and we do not need expanded LNG exports. Not only that, consumers facing record-high energy bills, vulnerable environmental justice communities, and our climate cannot afford increased gas production.”