Eighteen Ukrainian climate organisations have asked the European Commission on Tuesday (25 July) to ban imports of Russian liquified natural gas (LNG) and petroleum gas (LPG) in a bid to slash the country’s revenues from continued fossil fuel exports.
In 2022, the EU banned Russian crude oil shipments and coal imports following the war in Ukraine, while Russia significantly reduced the pipeline gas it supplied to Europe.
However, liquified fossil gas (LNG) shipments increased as Europe struggled to make up for dwindling pipeline supplies.
“If the EU wants to support Ukraine and end the suffering and brutal war crimes we suffer daily at the hands of Russia, then the EU has to stop sending billions of euros to the Kremlin’s war chests every time they buy Russian gas,” said Svitlana Romanko, Founder and Director of Ukrainian climate NGO Razom We Stand.
According to estimates, Russia is now Europe’s second-largest LNG supplier, with deliveries in the first quarter of 2023 accounting for 16% of the EU supply and 7% of its total fossil gas imports.
This also benefited Russia’s coffers, with LNG exports to the EU in the year following the invasion valued at €12 billion. Unless something changes, Russia is predicted to earn another €9 billion from fossil fuel exports in the war’s second year.
The lack of sanctions against Russian LNG and LPG provides the country with money that it can use to fund its invasion of Ukraine, the campaigners wrote in a letter to the European Commission.
Eurogas, a trade organisation, said it was not opposed to further restrictions on Russian gas imports.
“Eurogas fully supports the Commission’s ambition to end dependence on Russian gas this decade,” said James Watson, the body’s secretary-general representing the EU gas industry. “It’s a complex global market, but existing long-term contracts provide a decent level of transparency into the effects this would have on the EU,” he told EURACTIV.
The campaigners are also calling for imports of liquified petroleum to be banned and for the European Commission leaders to consider secondary sanctions on companies providing technology and services that help Russia export LNG and LPG.
Concern about emissions from Russian gas
According to the campaigners, banning imports of Russian LNG and LPG would also benefit the climate.
“If the EU is sincere about its commitments for climate action and ending the war in Ukraine, then Russia’s LNG expansion plans must go into oblivion following the Nord Stream pipelines,” said Romanko.
The campaign groups cite concerns about Russia’s plans to almost triple its LNG export capacity to reach 100 million tonnes annually by 2030.
A crucial part of this is Arctic LNG 2, a project aimed at transporting and selling Russian gas to international markets and doubling the export capacity of Russia’s largest private gas provider Novatek.
“Today Russia and its deranged plans of fossil fuel industry expansion are posing a deadly threat to the world,” the campaigners warn.
“Contribution of international companies to the construction of the Arctic LNG-2 could unlock extraction at new gas fields in Russia – set fuse to ‘methane bombs’ and put the 1.5°C Paris Agreement climate target off reach,” their letter reads.
Can Europe cope without Russian LNG?
Following the invasion of Ukraine, the European Union proposed a plan to sever its dependence on Russian fossil fuels by 2027.
However, some have argued the EU could go faster and become independent from Russian gas as soon as 2025 by boosting low-carbon and renewable energy production and energy efficiency measures.
Meanwhile, economic think tank Bruegel found the EU can manage without Russian LNG now and has advocated for EU sanctions against imports.
Most EU countries would be able to “manage comfortably” with this, and while Portugal and Spain would see a larger impact, they would still be able to get the required gas, Bruegel says.
However, in this scenario, Russia is expected to look elsewhere to sell its LNG, something it is likely to succeed at, given how tight the international gas market is.
[Edited by Frédéric Simon/Alice Taylor]