Washington, D.C. — A new analysis from the Center for American Progress and Environmental Action Germany (Deutsche Umwelthilfe) shows the growing economic, environmental, and health risks of increasing the export of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Germany.
The analysis comes as German Chancellor Friedrich Merz travels to Washington this week to meet U.S. President Donald Trump for the first time since taking office last month.
Germany has already increased its LNG capacity and imports from the United States; further expansion would lead to higher energy costs, health risks for vulnerable populations, and new geopolitical dependencies that would be detrimental to both countries. The analysis urges restraint on new long-term LNG import contracts to Germany and more ambition in the expansion of renewable energy sources. Substituting energy dependence on Russia for dependence on the United States for volatile fossil gas imports that emit more greenhouse gases than coal is not in Germany’s best interests.
“Pushing long-term LNG exports serves the oil and gas industry’s interests at the expense of Americans’ pocketbooks and health,” said Shannon Baker-Branstetter, senior director of Domestic Climate at CAP and co-author of the report. “It’s reasonable to demand energy policies from the United States and Germany that focus on affordable energy solutions, clean air, and fiscally responsible choices that don’t sacrifice public health or delay the transition to clean energy. People living next to fracking wells, pipelines, and LNG terminals in the United States tend to have lower-than-average incomes, and these facilities are often placed in Black or Hispanic communities, where residents suffer disproportionately from asthma, cancer, and other health problems.”
On the German side, importing LNG is expensive, disruptive to the climate, and risky to the country’s national security. The planned import capacity for fossil gas, including LNG, by 2030 is currently almost twice as large as Germany’s expected consumption and would interfere with the country’s climate commitments.
“Germany is making itself vulnerable to blackmail by importing LNG from the United States and is slipping into the next political and fossil fuel dependency after Russia,” said Sascha Müller-Kraenner, executive director of Environmental Action Germany. “Instead of investing in the expansion of the LNG infrastructure, we are calling for more ambition in the expansion of renewable energies and storage capacities—an energy infrastructure for truly clean energy and energy independence.”
LNG can be up to 33 percent more harmful to the climate than coal due to the methane emissions produced during fracking, liquefaction, and transportation of LNG. Yet the German government is investing more than 8 billion euros in the expansion of LNG infrastructure in Germany.
Read the report: “LNG Projects Are a Bad Deal for Germans and Americans” by Milena Pressentin, Josefin Schmidt, Julian Schwartzkopff, Shannon Baker-Branstetter, Jasia Smith, and Akshay Thyagarajan
For more information, or to speak with an expert, please contact Sam Hananel at [email protected].