U.S. LNG showcases transatlantic rift on climate and energy

The U.S. administration is aggressively promoting the country’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) to European partners. It is being sold both as a supply that would help buyers diversify away from Russian gas, and as a way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by replacing coal. However, high emissions along the entire value chain of American gas deliveries challenge this sales pitch. A closer look at the world’s largest oil and gas field – the Permian Basin in West Texas, where much of the exported gas is produced – shows how methane emissions and flaring have reached levels that threaten the image of natural gas as the cleanest fossil fuel. This could become an issue for transatlantic gas trade, because the EU is aiming for climate neutrality by 2050 and is currently drafting a methane emissions strategy that could ultimately decide where the continent sources its gas, based on the climate footprint. Many industry players in the U.S. are starting to see a competitive advantage in climate-friendly production. Read the article.

High methane emissions could unseat natural gas as the lowest-carbon fossil fuel, and the EU needs to exert pressure on the U.S. to get a grip on the issue, says Samantha Gross, fellow in the Cross-Brookings Initiative on Energy and Climate. At the same time, a comprehensive ban on fracking to rein in greenhouse gas emissions could do more harm than good if production simply shifted to other countries, she cautions. The former director of the Office of International Climate and Clean Energy at the U.S. Department of Energy also spoke with Clean Energy Wire about the downside of gas trading as a tool to iron out transatlantic relations and why she wants gas to be kept out of politics. Read the interview.

Julian Wettengel shares experiences from his research, tips and lessons on energy transition journalism, and interviews one of the leading U.S. journalists on climate and energy, Amy Harder.

Follow the news and be ready to improvise – reporting in the time of coronavirus

The coronavirus is bringing public life in many countries to a halt, with potentially severe consequences for medical systems and other critical areas. And it's affecting reporters and reporting, too. Clean Energy Wire correspondent Julian Wettengel spent weeks preparing for a research trip to the U.S. But, as with so many plans these days, the spread of the coronavirus left its mark on his reporting – from cancelled interviews to a called-off conference – and ultimately cut his trip short. Here's what he learned.

Unbiased reporting needed on climate, today’s most polarised issue in US - says Amy Harder

Climate has become the most polarising issue in the U.S. and highlights deep partisan divides between Republicans and Democrats, a recent Pew Research Center survey shows. As climate change becomes an ever-greater concern among the public, the coverage of it needs to remain unbiased, says Amy Harder, national energy and climate change reporter at Axios in Washington, D.C. Harder is one of the leading U.S. journalists on this beat. She spoke with CLEW's Julian Wettengel about her role within the media landscape. She says she tries to provide her readers added value by exploring areas other reporters are not covering – and that taking time to look at what is going on in other places of the world is a constant struggle.

Off to shale boom country, with more than a little help

The United States administration is promising to bring freedom to Europe with its exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG), while the industry touts it as a tool reduce greenhouse gas emissions and reach the EU’s ever stricter climate targets. However, studies showing that methane emissions from the LNG value chain are higher than previously thought and the negative environmental and social effects of the recent U.S. export boom have many doubting that narrative. With the support of a Kellen Fellowship by the American Council on Germany, Clean Energy Wire’s staff correspondent Julian Wettengel will travel to the heartland of shale oil and gas to get the U.S. view on the industry and its future. In this blog post, he talks about how he can count on the help of many colleagues from the CLEW network and beyond to make the trip a success.