Looking back on his time as climate minister, Rob Jetten (D66) recently celebrated ‘that we can take very quick steps when the situation calls for it’. Unfortunately, this remark was not about the climate crisis and scaling up renewable energy faster but about the construction of a new liquefied gas terminal. In our opinion piece in NRC, Derk Loorbach and I argue that the global advance of liquefied gas is extremely bad news.
Ø Bad for the climate. US liquefied gas is as polluting as coal-fired power – sometimes even much more polluting – if you look at the whole chain of production and transport. So the appetite for ‘liquid coal’ is a big step backwards in NL climate policy.
Ø Bad for humans and animals now. In the southern US, the LNG tree is causing major damage to habitat (groundwater pollution, destroying wetlands, disrupting ecosystems) and health (more deaths and rapidly rising healthcare costs).
Ø Deeply unfair. Profits from new gas extraction are for rich big polluters while costs are passed on to vulnerable communities. The increased risk of cancer and asthma from air pollution affects black and Latino communities above average.
Full article (in Dutch): Opinie | Een daadkrachtige overheid roemt zichzelf niet om de snelle bouw van een LNG-terminal – NRC