US pushes dirty LNG on Europe

This is an ongoing thing.

UPDATE 7/29/2025: On July 28, the U.S. and EU announced a framework trade deal. It involves the EU pledging to buy $750 billion in U.S. oil, LNG, and nuclear fuel by 2028. Energy analysts have called that goal unrealistic, with unclear implications for the EU’s methane pollution standards.

As Europe races toward a U.S. trade deal, lobbyists for America’s biggest natural gas exporters are pushing to carve a major loophole in the EU’s methane rules, using ongoing trade and tariff disputes in a campaign to weaken Europe’s climate standards.

“It’s very clear that the industry and the State Department are putting a lot of pressure on the EU to just give us a pass on this methane rule and commit to our dirty LNG,” said Lorne Stockman, research co-director for Oil Change International and co-author of a new report detailing climate impacts from five U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects.

“And we certainly hope the EU does not buckle to that pressure. But it’s extremely concerning because there’s a lot at stake.” - DeSmog

Expect a boom in ever-more-flagrant greenwashing

A particularly odious example.

A major exporter of U.S. liquefied natural gas is “seeking to greenwash” its operations in order to portray gas exports as a climate solution and clear the way for further expansion, according to a new report...

In recent months, Cheniere Energy, the largest LNG exporter in the United States, has begun providing emissions data, which it calls “carbon emissions tags,” or CE tags, for its gas.

The tags quantify the greenhouse gas emissions of a given LNG cargo, with the aim of easing buyers’ concerns. The CE tags include emissions from where the gas is drilled upstream, all the way down to the point of export on the coast. The logic is to offer transparency to buyers overseas by disclosing the emissions of each shipment, which would help to clean up the supply chain over time.

But a new report from Oil Change International and Greenpeace USA says the program is riddled with flaws and is broadly aimed at portraying LNG as a clean fuel, rather than actually cleaning up the supply chain, at a time when gas developers are hoping to take advantage of the war in Ukraine to expand operations. - DeSmog