Bank of America: Stop Financing Methane Gas Expansion!

You wouldn’t call coal “natural rock” but Big Banks — and their fossil fuel clients — love to greenwash Methane gas (or LNG) as “liquefied natural gas” to mask the massive impacts on health and climate. Methane gas is a climate superpollutant that can cause serious health impacts.

Methane gas is the fastest-growing fossil fuel sector in the world at exactly the time that all science tells us we can’t afford a single new fossil fuel expansion project. Right now, there are 25+ NEW methane gas export terminals planned for the US Gulf Coast alone.

In the 7 years since the Paris Agreement, Bank of America has financed over $7 BILLION to methane gas-expanding companies, including ones behind projects like the Mountain Valley Pipeline, Coastal Gaslink Pipeline and Plaquemines LNG export terminal in Southeast Louisiana.

Sign the petition below, demanding BofA divest from methane gas NOW.

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Methane gas (aka liquefied “natural” gas or LNG) is conventional or unconventional gas cooled at around -160°C and condensed into a liquid in terminals situated on the coast or offshore. From there, the liquefied gas can be shipped on tankers to be exported, regasified, and burned on the other side of the planet. In addition to being an extremely energy-intensive process, creating such long supply chains means even more opportunities for methane to escape into the atmosphere.

Liquefied Natural Gas is not natural at all, it’s methane. This methane gas continues to be touted by industry, governments, and banks as a “bridge fuel,” even after the International Energy Agency stated that in their special report, Net Zero by 2050: A Road Map for the Global Energy Sector, “No new natural gas fields are needed in the Net Zero Emissions beyond those already under development. Also not needed are many of the LNG liquefaction facilities currently under construction or at the planning stage.”

Meanwhile, a slate of proposed export terminals in North America, concentrated on the Gulf Coast, in black and brown communities already overburdened with pollution and climate impacts, could be looking to banks to finance their massive projects in the coming years.

Despite climate and community impacts and a rapidly changing market, your bank is one of the top US banks behind methane gas terminals in the Gulf Coast and around the world. As such, you are continuing to finance climate disasters.

Methane gas is being propped up by the fossil fuel industry as the answer to Europe’s energy needs. The trick is that new methane gas terminals cost from $10-$30 billion and take 3-5 years to construct, locking us into decades more dependence on fossil fuels. New methane gas expansion is not going to support energy needs this winter — this year, or next.

Ending fossil fuel expansion, getting off fossil fuels, and making a just transition to renewables will help our collective efforts towards climate stability and give us a fighting chance to stop climate catastrophe.

Your bank must stop financing methane gas terminals and pipelines. We need real solutions, commitments, and leadership now.