Energy and environment ministers of the Group of Seven major industrial nations pledged yesterday to speed up the shift to renewable energy.
But they left the door open to new investments in natural gas – and the Biden administration backed that final language in the closely-watched G-7 communique.
Until now the Biden administration, facing competing pressures from the fossil fuel industry and environmentalists, hadn’t publicly revealed its stance on whether the communique should endorse gas investments. But a senior administration official told The Climate 202 on Sunday that theU.S. negotiating team recognized gas can help address energy shortfalls spurred by Russia’s war in Ukraine in the short term, even as the world phases out fossil fuels to combat climate change in the long term.
“We’re still in the middle of a war,” said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly. “We’re going to be looking at a situation next year where potentially you could have a terrible gas crunch again in Europe.”
At the same time, the official emphasized that investments in gas must be paired with advances in renewable energy and energy efficiency that help reduce gas demand in the first place.
G-7 communiques are nonbinding, but they send important market signals that reverberate around the globe. Before the two days of talks in Sapporo, Japan, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and fossil fuel industry groups had urged the Biden administration to “affirm the crucial contributions of natural gas to global energy security,” while more than 100 environmental groups had called on the administration to “strenuously resist” such language.
The caveats
Japan, the host of the G-7 meeting, pushed for the communique to unequivocally endorse gas investments. But the final language included three big caveats backed by the United States and other members:
On the war in Ukraine, the document states that “investment in the gas sector can be appropriate to help address potential market shortfalls provoked by the crisis.”
On clean energy, it recognizes the “primary need to accelerate the clean energy transition through energy savings and gas demand reduction.”
And on climate change, it clarifies that gas investments must be “implemented in a manner consistent with our climate objectives and without creating lock-in effects,” such as by ensuring that new gas infrastructure can be repurposed to carry green hydrogen in the future.
“The final outcome, which puts some big caveats on new investments in gas and deletes Japan’s proposed language, wouldn’t have happened if the U.S. had been opposed,” Alden Meyer, a senior associate at the climate think tank E3G, said in an email.
‘Directly contradictory’
The caveats were not enough, however, to satisfy environmentalists who contend that new gas investments will hasten the worst consequences of climate change.
Collin Rees, U.S. program manager at Oil Change International, said the communique ignored findings from the International Energy Agency, which has warned that there can be no new fossil fuel development if humanity wants to prevent dangerous warming beyond 1.5 degrees Celsius.
The document “says gas can be developed as long as it’s acceptable within our climate goals, but the science is very clear: No new investments in gas can be compatible with our climate goals,” Rees told The Climate 202. “So it’s directly contradictory.”
Lukas Ross, program manager at Friends of the Earth, agreed. He added that it will be difficult and costly to convert liquefied natural gas, or LNG, terminals to carry hydrogen.
“The idea of hydrogen-ready LNG is greenwashing,” Ross told The Climate 202. “It’s another prohibitively expensive lifeline to fossil fuels, with major questions about technical feasibility.”
In contrast, Dustin Meyer, vice president of natural gas markets at the American Petroleum Institute, said in a statement that the communique rightly recognizes “the continued importance of natural gas in helping deliver affordable, reliable energy.”
Alaska LNG project
Environmentalists also slammed the Biden administration for approving LNG exports from a planned Alaska project just days before the G-7 talks.
The Alaska Gasline Development Corp. hopes the project will start exporting LNG by 2030, mainly to Asian countries where Russia is a key supplier.
At a March board meeting, the company expressed hope that Japan would use its role as host of the G-7 talks to “request international support for new LNG capacity.”
Ross speculated that the Energy Department approved the project last week “so the U.S. wouldn’t be showing up empty-handed to the meeting in Japan.”
However, the senior administration official said Energy’s discussions about the Alaska LNG project “had absolutely nothing to do with our negotiating position.” The official declined to comment further on the project.
New clean-energy goals
Elsewhere in the communique, the G-7 ministers endorsed the following new clean-energy targets:
Collectively increasing offshore wind capacity to 150 gigawatts by 2030.
Collectively boosting solar capacity to more than 1 terawatt by 2030.
The ministers also reaffirmed a goal from last year to phase out “unabated” coal power — coal plants that lack carbon capture technology — by 2035. But they set no new deadline for phasing out coal plants altogether.
G-7 leaders are expected to endorse the entire communique at a summit in May in Hiroshima.
In the states
The unlikely center of America’s EV battery revolution
A technician works with electric vehicle batteries at the Ascend Elements plant in Covington, Ga. (Alyssa Pointer for The Washington Post)
In Georgia, recent investments in electric vehicle production are creating thousands of jobs and transforming sleepy rural towns into a bustling “battery belt.” But Republican state lawmakers aren’t fully embracing the transition to EVs — or the climate reasons behind the shift, The Washington Post’sShannon Osaka reports.
Georgia leads the country in new clean-energy investments, with $15.27 billion pledged so far. EV and battery manufacturers in particular have flocked to Georgia and other Southern states, chasing the federal tax credits in the Inflation Reduction Act as well as generous state incentives. In fact, many of the clean-energy projects announced after the new climate law have landed in congressional districts across the nation represented by Republicans.
Yet Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) and other GOP state lawmakers haven’t entirely embraced clean cars. Last month, the state Senate passed a tax on public EV charging. And along with the governor, most state lawmakers rarely use the term “climate change.”
Pressure points
Tax season is getting longer. Blame climate change.
The Internal Revenue Service in Washington. (Patrick Semansky/AP)
For most Americans, tax day is tomorrow. But the Internal Revenue Service has given taxpayers in seven states an extension because of extreme weather events fueled by climate change, The Washington Post’s Jacob Bogage reports.
Taxpayers in parts ofTennessee, Arkansas and Mississippi have until July 31 to make filings and payments because of severe storm and tornado damage. Those in certain areas of Alabama, California and Georgia have until Oct. 16 because of winter storms, flooding, mudslides and tornadoes. A winter storm in parts of New York means taxpayers there have until May 15.
As climate change fuels more frequent and intense extreme weather events, a national tax day might become a thing of the past, with the IRS issuing more extensions for affected individuals and businesses so they can deal with the fallout of disasters.
White House announces more EV investments for Earth Week
A designated parking space and charging station for electric vehicles. (David Goldman/AP)
The White House today announced that more corporations have made commitments under its “EV Acceleration Challenge,” which seeks to speed up the nation’s transition to electric vehicles, as part of a series of events for Earth Week.
Today’s announcements include:
Blink Charging is investing $49 million to increase its manufacturing capacity in Bowie, Md., from 10,000 to 40,000 EV chargers annually by 2024.
Uber is pledging to reach 400 million miles driven in EVs in the United States by the end of 2023.
Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) and Ecology Action are vowing to install roughly 2,000 EV chargers at no cost to customers in disadvantaged communities.
This week, President Biden, Vice President Harris and Cabinet-level officials will hold nearly 40 other events focused on touting the administration’s record on climate, according to a White House spokesman.
On the Hill this week
On Tuesday: The House Science, Space and Technology Committee will hold a hearing on a discussion draft of legislation from Chair Frank D. Lucas (R-Okla.) that would make the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration an independent agency.
The House Financial Services Committee will hold an oversight hearing on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s recent rulemakings, including its climate disclosure rule. SEC Chair Gary Gensler will testify.
The Senate Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Clean Air and Nuclear Safety will hold a hearing on the Environmental Protection Agency’s vehicle emissions standards and federal investments in clean cars.
The House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Federal Lands will meet to examine the nation’s progress in implementing the Great American Outdoors Act and tackling the National Park Service’s maintenance backlog.
The House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife and Fisheries will consider Republican resolutions to disapprove of the Biden administration’s decisions to grant Endangered Species Act protections to several species, including the Northern long-eared bat.
The House Oversight and Accountability Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Energy Policy and Regulatory Affairs will hold a hearing titled “Spending on Empty: How the Biden Administration’s Unprecedented Spending Increased Risk of Waste, Fraud and Abuse at theDepartment of Energy.”
On Wednesday: The House Natural Resources Committee will meet to discuss the Biden administration’s budget request for the Interior Department. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland will testify.
The House Agriculture Committee will meet to hear testimony from EPA Administrator Michael Regan.
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee will meet to discuss the proposed budget for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
On Thursday: The Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Subcommittee on Conservation, Forestry and Natural Resources will hold a hearing on conservation programs in the farm bill.
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will meet to discuss the Energy Department’s proposed budget. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm will testify.
In the atmosphere
Water cuts could save the Colorado River. Farmers are in the crosshairs. — Joshua Partlow for The Post
Germany ends nuclear power era, shuts down last of its plants — Kate Brady for The Post
Why Russia’s war in Ukraine is bad news for polar bears, too — Dino Grandoni for The Post
Biden’s ambitious climate plan for EVs faces these big hurdles — Evan Halper and Timothy Puko for The Post
New tech could one day scrub ‘forever chemicals’ from your tap water — Allyson Chiu for The Post
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