Page 8 - AsiaElec Week 37 2021

AsiaElec COMMENTARY AsiaElec

Demand for carbon-neutral LNG

grows amid growing criticism

Demand for carbon-neutral LNG is rising, but critics are increasingly arguing that using
carbon offsets is not an effective way to combat climate change

GLOBAL THE concept of carbon-neutral LNG – still in Criticism
its infancy – is rising in popularity. The first car- Critics are increasingly highlighting these
bon-neutral cargoes were delivered in 2019, and aspects of carbon-neutral LNG and arguing
since then a small – but growing – number of that balancing emissions that are added to the
LNG players have announced the purchase or atmosphere with an equal amount of removal is
sale of such a cargo. not as effective as not having those emissions in
But while the emerging trade in carbon-neu- the first place.
tral cargoes is being welcomed and praised in a “This paradigm … is encouraging a fictitious
world where decarbonisation is increasingly a engine that doesn’t help advance our net-zero
priority, the concept is also progressively com- goals,” Danny Cullenward, a Stanford Univer-
ing under fire from critics. This is because those sity lecturer, who is also policy director at the
carbon-neutral cargoes traded thus far have all non-profit CarbonPlan, was quoted by Bloomb-
relied on carbon credits from other, often nature- erg as saying.
based projects. Thus direct emissions are still Indeed, a similar criticism is being levelled at
generated from the production of LNG. the concept of net-zero emissions more broadly,
Indeed, Bloomberg recently cited France’s as ultimately achieving it will require offsetting
TotalEnergies – one of the companies to have existing emissions rather than releasing none.
made a foray into carbon-neutral LNG – as say- Critics – including those within the LNG
ing it does not count carbon credits in its compa- industry – are calling for more transparency
nywide emissions reports or as part of its plan to when it comes to offsetting emissions with car-
reach net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions bon credits.
by 2050.
“While an important tool … offsetting cannot On the rise
be considered as a substitute for direct emissions Despite these concerns, though, carbon-neu-
reductions by corporates, but as a complement,” tral LNG shipments are rising. According to
the company was quoted as saying. BloombergNEF, twice as many carbon-neutral

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