G7 proposal for publicly funded gas projects “a catastrophically bad idea”

28th June 2022, Brussels - Responding to the G7 proposal to use tax money to fund fossil gas projects, Murray Worthy, gas campaign leader at Global Witness said:

“Building new fossil gas terminals and pipelines is a catastrophically bad idea and will only mean one thing: hooking the world onto this dangerous fossil fuel for the long term. Energy experts have shown that Europe doesn’t need more infrastructure to replace Russian gas, and climate scientists say the climate absolutely can’t afford it.”

“Rather than trashing the commitment to stop funding fossil fuels that were made at the UN climate talks last year, governments should be doubling down on them. Instead of using public money to fund further dependence on fossil gas, governments should be pulling out all the stops to phase it out once and for all with an emergency build-out of renewables and insulation projects.”

Notes to editor:

[1] https://www.politico.eu/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/28/220628-Final-Draft_Leaders-Communique.pdf

[2] Analysis from Ember, E3G, RAP and Bellona show that the EU can end imports of Russian fossil gas without building new gas import infrastructure. [PH1] https://ember-climate.org/insights/research/eu-can-stop-russian-gas-imports-by-2025/