East Coast gas export facilities won't help Europe. They will damage our climate.
Experts warn:
LNG expansion on Canada's East Coast will become a financial liability.
Economists, academics and other independent experts say new LNG export facilities won’t help Europe.
Brian O'Callaghan, Lead Researcher & Project Manager, Oxford Economic Recovery Project, Oxford University
“Opening a new LNG export facility in five years would be irrelevant to the current energy crisis in Europe. Building a new LNG export facility in Canada sounds like an enormous stranded asset in the making. Canadian taxpayers should be wary of any public funds going to outdated fossil fuels. One of the worst possible uses for public funds in this current crisis would be on slow-to-implement fossil fuel infrastructure.”
“Europe’s need for LNG imports is only temporary while Europe is working to reduce its gas demand by investing in heat pumps, renewables and energy saving solutions. In Germany, there is a short-term savings potential of up to 26 per cent of current natural gas demand. Germany can cover its short-term LNG demand with floating terminals and thus avoid new fossil fuel dependencies that would contradict our goal of net zero emissions by 2045. Therefore, investing in new fixed LNG infrastructure would be a mistake for investors on both sides of the Atlantic. Europe’s gas demand will sharply decline before it will even be operational.”
Dr. Claudia Kemfert, Head of Energy, Transportation, Environment Department, German Institute for Economic Research Berlin
Professor
Dr. Niklas Höhne,
climate scientist,
co-founder NewClimate Institute
“As a consequence of the Russian energy crisis we are witnessing a global “gold rush” for new fossil gas production, pipelines and LNG facilities. While it is true that Germany immediately needs to wean itself off Russian energy, additional export capacities would come too late to meet its energy demand. European gas demand is expected to decline in the 2020s because the EU is working to ramp up renewables and energy efficiency. Any plans for Canada to build new LNG export facilities and related pipelines would take longer than the few years when Europe's gas demand is expected to drop. Canada shouldn't cloak attempts at locking in new oil and gas infrastructure in language about helping Europe. This would be inaccurate.”
“An East Coast LNG export facility would require natural gas from Alberta to pass through to the East Coast from new-build pipelines. But Eastern provinces have little appetite for new or expanded pipelines. Building pipeline infrastructure is among the biggest hurdles to these projects. And a five year time-horizon is completely unrealistic. LNG projects need to get approvals, secure natural gas supplies, secure long-term buyers of their cargoes, build infrastructure to the export facility, and build the export facility all in tandem. There are many more moving pieces than just the export facility. The length of time to get all this running takes longer than 5 years — at which point Europe's energy needs may be in a very different situation than currently.”
Omar Mawji,
Institute for Energy Economics and
Financial Analysis
Robert Rozansky,
research analyst,
Global Energy Monitor
“Growing calls to build LNG terminals on Canada’s East Coast overlook a key point: These facilities simply cannot be built in time to address Europe’s energy crisis. The EU’s plan to rapidly decarbonize sets the stage for new Canadian export projects to become stranded assets.”
“It’s never a prudent idea to build 30-year infrastructure in response to today’s headlines. Importantly, Canada’s ambitious climate goals and commitment to the Global Methane Pledge leave no room for new, polluting LNG facilities.”
Ted Nace,
executive director,
Global Energy Monitor
Wolastoqewi Kci-Sakom spasaqsit possesom - Ron Tremblay
(Wolastoq Grand Chief morningstar burning)
​
"I am from Wolastokuk – unceded Homeland of the People of the Beautiful and Bountiful River. Our Homeland and Waterways are central to defining and maintaining our Indigenous identity. Repsol’s LNG export project threatens the safety of our land and water and our rights. If Canadian politicians value reconciliation, they will stop prioritizing a gas company’s profits above Indigenous rights. If politicians care at all about our warming climate, they must not lift hard-fought moratoriums on fracking in the Atlantic provinces, at a time when our climate is careening closer to disaster.”