Increased LNG Exports to Japan Discussed at Alaska LNG Summit, Contradicts Biden’s Climate Goals

To achieve better energy security for the US and Japan, Biden administration must work to transition to affordable clean energy

Washington, DC – Today, the Biden administration and Japan met for the ‘Alaska LNG Summit,’ in which US officials played a role in negotiating Japanese contracts for US company Alaska LNG. This is not a one-off diplomatic move, but part of a broader pattern of closed-door diplomacy; the Biden Administration has been helping to negotiate contracts for LNG exports, contradicting the president’s climate goals and international fossil fuel finance policy. Building more LNG export infrastructure will continue to raise energy prices for American consumers and leave us vulnerable to price shocks from global markets, while lining the pockets of fossil fuel executives. Japan is already the world’s top LNG importer, and our energy diplomacy should focus on helping them transition to cleaner energy sources. Instead, the Administration is promoting greater fossil fuel dependence that would expand climate-harming dirty infrastructure and dangerous extraction processes for decades.

It is distressing to see the Biden administration cast its climate objectives aside and promote a buildout of gas export infrastructure. The Alaska LNG project requires building an 800-mile long pipeline across the state, which would threaten communities and endanger delicate ecosystems. The project would have a daily capacity of 3.3 billion cubic feet of gas, with lifecycle emissions equivalent to 76 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent annually, similar to building 20 new coal-fired power plants. If this export terminal is not built, all of this gas will stay in the ground.

In response Talia Calnek-Sugin, Associate Director of Legislative and Administrative Advocacy, issued the following statement:

“The Biden administration has laid out bold and ambitious goals to tackle the climate crisis and further environmental justice. Promoting new US LNG export infrastructure undermines these goals and is inconsistent with the Administration’s own guidance on energy diplomacy. The 'Alaska LNG Summit' is part of a concerning pattern of back-room diplomacy by the State Department and other agencies to prop up the US LNG industry, extending our allies and our own dependence on volatile, risky fossil fuels and harming US frontline communities. This is not the time to exert US diplomatic power to further the profits of fossil fuel companies, but instead to meet the climate crisis head-on by cooperating on clean energy.”