How One Methane Scientist Influenced Biden’s Pause on LNG Approvals
Cornell University professor Robert Warren Howarth says methane emissions from American LNG supply chains make the fuel as bad or worse for the climate than coal.
Robert Warren Howarth
Photographer: Heather Ainsworth/Bloomberg
When the Biden administration paused approval of new liquefied natural gas export licenses in January, the decision was driven by a recognition that the climate impact from the fossil fuel needs to be reassessed.
The fight over just how much LNG contributes to global warming was rekindled in part by a study with explosive findings. Compiled by Robert Warren Howarth, a professor at Cornell University, the analysis — which was released in October but remains in peer review — uses leak and emissions data from an array of sources. It finds that total greenhouse gas emissions from US LNG in the best case scenario are comparable to coal. In the worst case, emissions could be more than two-fold greater.