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The US has demanded that the European Union roll back its climate and human rights rules in order to allow greater imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG), as the Trump administration approved a controversial gas export hub along the Gulf of Mexico coast.
A letter jointly sent by the US and Qatar, two of the three largest LNG exporters in the world, warned the EU that its new rules pose an “existential threat” to European economies as they would hinder imports of gas from countries such as theirs.
The EU should either completely repeal or substantially cut back the new rules, known as the corporate sustainability due diligence directive, according to the letter. The directive, which is set to be debated by EU legislators in the coming week, requires gas exporters to the 27-country bloc to show they protect human rights and are cutting their planet-heating emissions, or risk hefty fines.
“Its implementation could jeopardize existing and future investments, employment, and compliance with recent trade agreements,” the letter states. “There is little debate that natural gas and LNG will remain a critical energy source and a key part of the EU’s energy mix for many decades.”
The letter is the latest push by the Trump administration to not only boost the use of fossil fuels on US soil but also ensure the world remains wedded to them, taking aim at countries’ climate laws as it does so. Trump himself urged the UK to drill for more oil and halt wind energy, calling turbines “ugly monsters” and a “con job” during a meeting with Keir Starmer, the British prime minister, in July.
During the same trip, the EU agreed to purchase $750bn of US oil and gas by 2028, in order to replace fuels coming from Russia, although the viability of this deal has been questioned. A subsequent trip to Europe by Chris Wright, the US energy secretary, also highlighted the administration’s hostility to climate action, with Wright calling net zero policies a “colossal train wreck” and the Paris climate agreement “silly”.
LNG is gas that has been chilled, loaded on to ships and sent overseas to be burned. Long championed by proponents as a relatively clean fuel, recent research has called this into question. When the transportation of the gas is taken into account, LNG can be even worse for the climate than coal, according to the study.
In the US, a frenzy of new LNG infrastructure is being built, with the Trump administration vowing to speed up approvals to aid its agenda of “energy dominance”. Scientists have been clear that the US, and the rest of the world, must swiftly move away from fossil fuels to avoid disastrous global heating.
On Wednesday, Trump’s energy department announced it had provided a final export approval for Venture Global’s CP2 project, a vast planned LNG terminal on Louisiana’s coast. Once built, the terminal could export as much as 3.96bn cubic feet of LNG per day overseas.
As an extension to Venture Global’s existing LNG operation, CP2 will result in about 190m tons of greenhouse gases a year, equivalent to the pollution put out by 54 coal-fired power plants, according to one analysis.
“In less than 10 months, President Trump’s administration is redefining what it means to unleash American energy by approving record new LNG exports,” said Kyle Haustveit, assistant secretary of the office of fossil energy at the Department of Energy.
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CP2 should be completed by 2027, according to Mike Sabel, Venture Global’s chief executive. “Venture Global is grateful for the Trump administration’s final approval of CP2, a critical project that will supply American allies with low-cost LNG for decades, support thousands of jobs and greatly benefit the US balance of trade,” Sabel said.
The Trump administration lifted a previous pause on new LNG terminals put in place during Joe Biden’s term, despite the Department of Energy determining that the export of the gas will raise energy prices for American households.
The building of CP2 has also raised concerns about the impact upon the local community along the coast of Cameron parish in Louisiana, which has long had to deal with pollution, noise and impacts to fisheries from the fossil fuel industry.
“LNG exports raise costs to Americans’ energy bills, are disastrous for communities like Cameron parish, increase public health harms and perpetuate the climate crisis,” said Mahyar Sorour, a campaigner at the Sierra Club.
“It’s horrific that while everyday Americans suffer, the Trump administration’s solution is to push forward projects that will deepen that suffering for the sake of making big oil and gas executives richer.”
