Dirty Lies Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Climate Catastrophe

Ladies and gentlemen,

It is quite an achievement to stand out just a little bit more from the many outstanding contributions the participants at the conference over there in the Adlon are making every day to fuel the climate crisis. But that’s exactly what Venture Global does!

No other company in the world is building more LNG export capacity. Thanks to Venture Global, the high-quality fracked gas from the USA now has the largest share of the global LNG market. And they are really pushing themselves in the operation of their industrial plants and breaking all records: their Calcasieu Pass LNG terminal in Louisiana went into operation in January 2022. In the first year and a half of operation, they have already deviated their permits over 2,000 times. As they apparently have an abundance of gas, they can simply flare a large proportion of it unused and thus keep the 100-foot-high victory flare on their site burning almost continuously day and night. This is only supposed to happen in an emergency and as an exception, but it looks great! If that’s not a great contribution to climate destruction! The killjoy residents are complaining about air pollution? Pah! Venture Global simply applies for new permits. With higher emission limits for 18 pollutants, including the neurotoxin hydrogen sulphide and the carcinogen benzene.

And they want to aim even higher: a second, much larger LNG export plant is planned at Calcasieu Pass - CP2. Once it is up and running, it will produce an estimated 176 million tons of CO2 over its operating life. That’s as much as 47 coal-fired power plants! Would you like another comparison? Last year, the German state-owned company SEFE - formerly known as Gazprom Germania - signed a great deal with Venture Global for 20 years of LNG supplies. This will produce as much CO2 per year as three million petrol cars, namely 13 million tons.

EnBW, the energy company from Baden-Württemberg, has also signed long-term LNG contracts with Venture Global. The whole thing is generously backed financially by Landesbank Baden-Württemberg. So the eternal Venture Global gas flame continues to burn into the “Ländle”.

I could go on about other great projects of our LNG superplayer, but we still need time for other prizes today. So I’ll conclude by saying with respect for so much climate destruction: Congratulations, Venture Global!