Dependence on U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) is projected to grow over the next decade as domestic gas production declines, according to Glen Bryn-Jacobsen from National Gas.
However, increasing LNG imports comes with environmental drawbacks. LNG is more polluting than domestically-sourced gas due to emissions from shipping and the regasification process. As a result, scaling up imports could spark further debate in the U.K. between growth advocates and environmentalists.
Ana Maria Jaller-Makarewicz, Europe’s lead energy analyst at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, suggested that the U.K. should focus on expanding clean domestic energy production instead. “Rather than committing to increased LNG imports and risking higher potential emissions, the U.K. should prioritize reducing gas demand by investing in renewable energy and deploying heat pumps,” she said.
Liam Hardy, head of research at the Green Alliance think tank, echoed this sentiment. “We should be doing everything possible to lessen our reliance on gas,” he stated, adding that importing gas via pipelines from Norway would result in significantly lower emissions compared to shipping LNG from the United States.
These environmental concerns, however, appear unlikely to influence decision-making in the White House. Former President Donald Trump had famously pledged to “drill, baby, drill” and acted to pull the U.S. out of the Paris Accord, a crucial global climate agreement, signing an executive order to that effect on the evening of his inauguration.
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