LIQUEFIED NATURAL GAS (LNG) – THE FACTS
06.04.2025
⬆️ The UN International Maritime Organisation (IMO) is a puppet show manipulated by unscrupulous lobbyists from the fossil fuel and shipping industries. These lobbyists are determined to greenwash LNG through their puppet platform SEA-LNG.ORG.
LIQUEFIED NATURAL GAS (LNG) – the facts
LNG is a fossil fuel that, when extracted, transported and burnt as a marine fuel, leaks methane into the atmosphere – a dangerous global-warming gas that is over 80-times more climate-warming in the short-term than carbon dioxide.
The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) identified rapid methane emission cuts as one of the top priorities in order to limit global warming to as close to 1.5°C as possible. The IPCC’s latest report focusing on climate mitigation makes clear that fossil gas in the form of LNG is not a solution for shipping’s decarbonisation.
Contrary to what climate science requires, shipping and port companies have been going full steam astern, investing heavily in fossil LNG, alleging that the fuel will reduce their environmental impacts and climate pollution. There are currently over 785 new cargo ships on order globally, with over 400 being built to run on dirty fossil LNG.
Burning more fossil LNG onboard vessels is a disaster in the making for our planet. It would only increase methane emissions from ships, which already rose by 150% between 2012 and 2018, according to the UN International Maritime Organisation (IMO). And the surge in methane pollution is getting worse according to a recent EMSA report, with most of this surge linked to the increasing use of LNG in shipping.
Methane emissions also decrease air quality. Additionally, increased demand for LNG—including in the marine sector—leads to adverse land-based impacts, such as polluted drinking water, reduction in crop production, and higher premature death rates, death rates which will worsen if Trump can “drill baby drill”.
⬆️ Last year Scrubby visited the MEPC82 meeting, arriving in a Rolls Royce.
LNG lobbyists claim LNG is the future fuel for shipping. This is despite recent research which has exposed the lies of industrial lobbying platforms like SEA/LNG. The peer reviewed research reveals that LNG extracted and exported from the US is 33% more polluting than coal. Methane leaks occur throughout the LNG extraction and supply process causing health problems and the destruction of areas and coastal communities wherever an LNG plant appears. These same leaks continue onboard LNG powered vessels, helping accelerate climate collapse. To cover up this uncomfortable truth the industry trumpets ‘biomethane’ and ‘e-methane’ products that are only 6% of the EU market and even less worldwide (and both still leak methane throughout their supply chains).
The fate of the Ocean depends on us all.
Our interventions depend on your support.
Current Status of LNG and Shipping
Between 2012 and 2018, methane emissions from LNG-fueled ships grew by 150 percent (Fourth IMO GHG Study 2020). Real-world methane emissions from shipping also indicate that the sector’s contribution to climate change is larger than previously estimated. Despite the negative climate and environmental impacts, the shipping industry is projected to witness further growth in LNG demand, with the anticipated addition of about 160 to 500 new LNG-fueled vessels annually until 2030.
We Need Strong Methane Regulations at the IMO
According to the IPCC (AR6), addressing the climate emergency and its devastating impacts on people requires urgently tackling methane emissions in the near term. LNG proponents are gaslighting policymakers about the real size of the climate and health impacts of LNG while jeopardising a survivable future on this planet.
The IMO is the United Nations body regulating international shipping. Currently, no specific international regulations exist for methane emissions from ships. However, several opportunities exist to comprehensively integrate methane into the IMO’s regulatory framework during the Marine Environmental Protection Committee (MEPC83). If this doesn’t happen we propose a more drastic future for the IMO.
Call for action at the IMO:
LNG is a fossil fuel that negatively impacts people, the environment, and the climate at every stage of its life cycle.
We demand:
1/ Methane emissions are considered as a greenhouse gas and included in any MEPC plans to levy a carbon tax on shipping, weighted by fugitive methane’s excess climate forcing capacity.
2/ The Member States of the IMO recognise LNG as a fossil fuel and stop listening to the SEA LNG lobbyists, locking them out of the IMO instead.
3/ The IMO to promote efficiency and the use of slow steaming, capacity reduction and, sail and electrically powered vessels by incentivising uptake in the shipping sector, empowering and upskilling workers and introducing fairer shipping routes.
⬆️ Scrubby defeats the Ocean dwellers. Once again industry greed destroys nature.
Photos by Guy Reece.