PRESS ADVISORY: Global Community Groups Speak Out at COP28 to Oppose LNG

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

December 8, 2023

Contact: 

Nicole Rodel, nicole@priceofoil.org

Aryanne De Ocampo, adeocampo@ceedphilippines.com

Nyshie Perkinson, nperkinson@biologicaldiversity.org

PRESS ADVISORY: Global Community Groups Speak Out at COP28 to Oppose LNG

DUBAI, UAE — On Friday, December 8, at 15:30 / 3:30 PM local time, an international coalition of organizations and community leaders, including the Center for Energy, Ecology, and Development Philippines, Center for Biological Diversity, Climate Action Network Canada, Earthworks, Oil Change International, Solutions For Our Climate, and others will gather for a creative action and speak-out on the need to end approvals and finance for Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) projects, extraction, export, and import.

The groups are uniting to “break the chain” of LNG supply with resistance to gas expansion at all levels — from extraction to processing to export to import. The community leaders will also speak on the release of a letter from more than 300 international organizations demanding U.S. President Biden end his support for LNG globally.

WHAT: International coalition of organizations, activists, and community leaders from across the world fighting LNG

WHEN: Friday, December 8 at 1530 / 3:30 PM local Dubai time

WHERE: Front entrance, near Zone B1 entry and flags (Action Zone 9)

SPEAKERS: 

• Krishna Ariola, Youth for Climate Hope Philippines

• Ayumi Fukakusa, Friends of the Earth Japan

• Emily Lowan, Climate Action Network-Reseau action climat Canada

• Samuel Mondlane, Fishnet Mozambique

• Dong-Jae Oh, Solutions For Our Climate Korea

• Roishetta Ozane, Vessel Project of Louisiana USA

Quotes:

“Communities like mine in the Gulf South are dying from the Biden administration’s failure to stop fossil fuel expansion. Right now, my community is fighting the Calcasieu Pass 2 LNG export terminal (CP2), which would produce the largest volume of LNG ever approved in the United States for export. To be on the right side of history, Biden must reject CP2 and all other gas export projects, and support a fast, fair, and full fossil fuel phaseout here at COP28,” said Roishetta Ozane, Founder and Director of the Vessel Project of Louisiana.

“Japan has been the number one importer of LNG for a long time and the number one public financier for LNG. Despite an expected decrease in domestic demand for LNG, Japan continues financing new fossil fuel infrastructure in other Asian countries for profit. Japanese finance puts burdens on marginalized communities in the Gulf Coast region of the United States and Indigenous communities in Canada, while locking in additional emissions in other Asian countries like the Philippines,” said Ayumi Fukakusa, Deputy Executive Director at Friends of the Earth Japan. 

“Southeast Asia is being shaped into an LNG import hub. Lies peddled by countries like Japan, the United States, South Korea, and countries in Europe paint gas as a transition fuel, but our people and environment have paid a steep price. In the Philippines, the biodiversity-rich Verde Island Passage hosts the biggest concentration of LNG projects in the country. Why must we let LNG poison our waters, destroy biodiversity, and drive us further to climate chaos? The Philippines and Southeast Asia are more than capable of powering our region with renewables at a time frame compatible to ??1.5°C. The mad dash for gas is nothing but a blockade to a renewable energy future,” said Krishna Ariola, Youth for Climate Hope Philippines. 

“By partnering with East Asian public financiers, the United States is exacerbating the expansion of LNG and posing a threat to energy consumers in Asia. As gas power has already lost its price competitiveness to renewables, further LNG development in the region will significantly increase energy costs for Asian citizens. Notably, Korea has completed 80% of its LNG carrier buildout and received USD 44 billion in support from public financiers over the past decade for this shipbuilding project. Both countries should stop supporting LNG expansion and transition to renewable energy in an equitable manner,” said Dong-Jae Oh, Head of Oil and Gas at Solutions For Our Climate Korea. 

“Here at COP28, British Columbia (BC), a wealthy Canadian province, is under international scrutiny for its approval of carbon-bomb fracked LNG projects. BC has the jurisdictional power to phase-out fossil fuel production, but is instead doubling down on fracked LNG, which displaces renewable energy at home and abroad. Fracking is the first stop on the LNG supply chain — harming the health of communities near and far from its operations, releasing toxic tailings, increasing earthquake risk and extracting billions of litres of freshwater from local waterways. Fracked LNG is a bridge to nowhere,” said Emily Lowan, Climate Action Network Canada.

“Today, over 300 organizations across the globe called on the Biden administration to abandon its support for LNG at COP28. Under President Biden’s current policies, gas exports are expected to soar by 2035. This administration has funneled billions of taxpayer dollars into LNG projects in the United States and abroad. If Biden wants to show he’s truly a climate leader, he must end all support for LNG and support a full, fair, fast, and funded phaseout of fossil fuels at the UN climate talks,” said Allie Rosenbluth, United States Program Manager at Oil Change International.