LNG, they’re not only looking at what our methane footprint is, but they’re also looking at what our carbon footprint is,” said Charlie Riedl, executive director at the Center for Liquefied Natural Gas. “When we start talking to customers around the world who are looking to buy U.S.
LNG terminals are themselves major emitters of CO2, a fact that has raised concerns among foreign buyers. Issues related to upstream methane leakage stand to be addressed by EPA climate rules now under review at the White House and by a fee that was enacted as part of this summer’s climate bill ( Climatewire, Aug. It’s also coming from would-be customers who are concerned about the greenhouse gas content of U.S. The pressure on LNG to reduce emissions is coming from investors who are wary of sinking money into carbon-intensive projects that will be on their books for decades. Some who haven’t yet embraced CCS have looked for ways to offset their CO2 emissions instead. “A pure stream of CO2 can be monetized using 45Q tax credit quite effectively where facilities also have local storage opportunities,” she said.Ĭutting carbon also promises to pay reputational dividends for LNG exporters. Susan Hovorka, a senior research scientist at the Gulf Coast Carbon Center at the University of Texas, Austin, said LNG produces a fairly pure carbon dioxide stream as a byproduct of the liquefaction process. LNG terminals do have some technological advantages in using CCS compared with other facilities. The International Energy Agency estimates the cost of CCS at a generic facility between $175 and $400 per ton, though that would now be partially offset by the 45Q tax credit of $85 per ton. The LNG industry’s embrace of CCS is remarkable in light of the costs associated with the technology and the fact LNG isn’t likely to face mandates to use it any time soon. He added that the climate spending bill known as the Inflation Reduction Act, which expanded the 45Q tax incentive for capturing and storing carbon, “considerably improves the economics of CCS and likely accelerates the implementation of these solutions.” A Supreme Court decision this summer and the historic climate legislation passed last month have conspired to boost the likelihood that other sectors, like electric power, will soon face Clean Air Act regulations based on CCS.Ĭheniere spokesperson Eben Burnham-Snyder said in an email to E&E News that the company sees CCS as “a promising technology to support our climate strategies to reduce the greenhouse gas footprint of our product.” Those efforts contrast with potential mandates on other industries.
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