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Europe’s Big Bet on Gas Would Be a Climate Disaster

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Food

Three infographics show how the “Projects of Common Interest” list is really about serving corporate interests

Every year, the European Commission releases a list of “Projects of Common Interest” (PCI List) for future gas infrastructure. In 2017, the final PCI List included around 50 gas projects; however, in reality there were about 100 projects, since many had been clustered together.

This year looks set to be no different, with over 110 projects being proposed for the fourth PCI List that will be published in October.

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Europe’s Terminal to Import Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) STILL Heavily Underused

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Food

By Andy Gheorghiu and Frida Kieninger

What is a utilization rate, and why does it matter?
Just like in 2018, Food & Water Europe again analyzed the utilization rate of EU LNG terminals based on data from Gas Infrastructure Europe. LNG terminals are facilities that enable the import of liquefied natural gas(LNG), gas that is cooled down so its volume is reduced by a ratio of 1:600 and can be shipped across the ocean via LNG tankers.

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World Upside Down: Voters Trust German Greens to Handle Climate Crisis Just as Party Throws Support for American Fracked „Freedom“ Gas

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Food

by Andy Gheorghiu

A long, long time ago, in a country known for its green forests, old traditions and also large-scale industry, a miracle was about to happen. A real and much-needed clean energy transition by an industrialized – and very influential – European country was on the way to the so-called “Energiewende.”

However, the transition was simply too successful. The mighty fossil fuel lobby saw that a move away from their dirty business model to a decentralized climate-friendly energy system based on renewables and energy efficiency (perhaps coupled with a changed economic model) was about to transform the old power patterns.

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Touring Four of the Most Pointless Gas Projects in Europe

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Food

By Frida Kieninger

Summer time is travel time!

What about taking a trip to some climate disaster projects across Europe? In 2017, Food & Water Europe took you to some of the most ridiculous and costly gas projects that applied to become part of the EU’s priority list for gas infrastructure, the List of Projects of Common Interest (PCI list). This year, in the brand new 2019 all-inclusive experience, we will take you to some more gas projects that make absolutely no sense and are applying for a spot on the PCI list…

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EU’s Fracking Hypocrisy

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Common Resources

How LNG is still an accepted back door for fracked gas in Europe

With climate chaos looming and millions on the streets to support the youth climate strikes, it’s time to have a closer look at the hypocrisy of the European Union regarding fracking. A new Food & Water Watch report – The Fracking End Game: Locked Into Plastics, Pollution and Climate Chaos – casts a profound look at the United States’ current fracking and LNG export boom. This blog shows how the EU’s LNG import plans fit perfectly with the U.S.’ dirty plans.

A number of EU Member States have legislative or de facto bans on fracking in place, yet at the same time, imports of fracked US gas are on the rise: Between a meeting of U.S. President Trump and EU Commission President Juncker in July 2018 and spring of this year, exports of American fossil gas have increased by over 270%. In March 2019 alone, over 1.4 billion cubic meters of U.S. LNG reached Europe. While these volumes are still an insignificant fraction of EU gas consumption, decision makers’ endorsement of this steadily growing, extremely harmful source of gas is highly problematic.

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ExxonMobil Comes To Brussels

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Food

By Eilidh Robb

Update, March 19 : ExxonMobil, despite happily using lobbying opportunities in the European Parliament and other EU institutions, has refused parliamentarians’ invitation to speak at the hearing. This is unacceptable. Parliament must act to hold Exxon accountable. At the hearing, we will be asking them to revoke their lobbying access entirely, just as they did with Monsanto in 2017.

In the same way that we look back on the tobacco industry’s remarkable PR stunts and wonder how they got away with it, we will look back on the activities of ExxonMobil and ask ourselves the same question.

For the past 50 years ExxonMobil has been sitting on some pretty important findings about the certainty of human-induced climate change – findings that they conveniently hid from the world by launching a $33 billion campaign to sow doubt and denial about global warming, which allowed them to justify continued pollution.

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