Washington (November 19, 2024) - Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), chair of the Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Clean Air, Climate, and Nuclear Safety, partnered with Representative Lisa Badum of Germany and Senator Rosa Galvez of Canada to lead over 130 leaders from around the world in sending an open letter during this year’s United Nations global climate conference, COP29, urging world leaders and UN-level negotiators to support an immediate moratorium on the expansion of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) infrastructure worldwide. The U.S. signatories include Senators Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), and Representatives Jan Schakowsky (IL-09), Delia Ramirez (IL-03), Nydia Velázquez (NY-07), Rashida Tlaib (MI-12), Nanette Barragán (CA-44) and Jared Huffman (CA-02).
At COP26, the United States was one of 39 governments and financial institutions that signed the Glasgow Statement, pledging to prioritize the clean energy transition and end new direct public support for the unabated international fossil fuel sector by 2022. At COP28, world leaders agreed to work to transition away from fossil fuels in energy systems in a just, orderly, and equitable manner, accelerating action in this critical decade.
Despite these international commitments, billions of dollars continue to pour into new fossil fuel infrastructure, particularly liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminals. Additional LNG exports are costly to American families, extremely harmful to the climate, and unnecessary for U.S. allies in Europe.
In their letter, the lawmakers wrote, “As nationally elected representatives serving millions of people across multiple continents, countries, and communities, and reflecting a range of political visions, we come together to speak with one voice and call on our fellow legislators and partners in government to take immediate and decisive action against the proliferation of LNG infrastructure around the world.”
The lawmakers continued, “We – the undersigned legislators – call on world leaders, UN-level negotiators, and our fellow legislators to work together in a spirit of international cooperation to impose an immediate moratorium on the expansion of LNG infrastructure worldwide, ending the public financing and permitting of these harmful projects.”
In September 2024, Senator Markey led a letter alongside more than 100 international lawmakers to the Biden administration urging it to reject new LNG exports.
In July 2024, Senator Markey, along with Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), sent a letter to the Department of Energy urging it to consider the disproportionate negative impacts of LNG exports on New England, as the department considers updates to its underlying environmental and economic analyses to improve export authorization decisions for LNG.
In May 2023, Senator Markey and Representative Yvette Clarke (NY-09) announced the reintroduction of the Block All New (BAN) Fossil Fuel Exports Act (S. 1707), legislation that would amend the Energy Policy and Conservation Act and ban the export of American crude oil and natural gas abroad to protect frontline communities from dangerous export infrastructure, prioritize U.S. consumers against fossil fuel profiteering, and help ensure the United States meets its climate and clean energy commitments on the world stage.
In March 2023, Senator Markey and Representatives Ayanna Pressley (MA-07) and Rashida Tlaib (MI-12) reintroduced the Fossil Free Finance Act (S. 1138), legislation that would direct the Federal Reserve to require major banks and other Systemically Important Financial Institutions (SIFIs) to stop financing projects and activities linked to increased greenhouse gas emissions and submit a plan on how they would meet these requirements.
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