Pittsburgh-based EQT Corporations (EQT) announced Wednesday it will launch U.S. LNG to address the energy needs and advance climate efforts by targeting the replacement of international coal.
The new plan coincides with CERAWeek 2022, when natural gas takes center stage. EQT President and CEO Toby Z. Rice discussed the plan and the campaign during the Innovation & The Future of Gas session at CERAWeek.
“We have presented today our case for leveraging U.S. natural gas to meaningfully advance our efforts in addressing global climate change. Unleashing U.S. LNG to target international coal consumption is not only proven, the opportunity represents the largest green initiative on planet,” Rice said. “By providing a solution to the principal driver of international emissions – emissions that must be addressed if we are to succeed in our climate efforts – we have the ability to extend our influence in addressing climate change beyond our borders.”
EQT’s plan highlighted the importance of prioritizing the replacement of coal with natural gas. Coal is currently the source of 48 percent of international energy emissions, the company said, and replacing it with natural gas would reduce emissions by nearly 60 percent. Additionally, the company said, U.S. LNG fills a void in U.S. Climate Change Policy by providing other countries with energy alternatives, allowing the U.S. to profit from LNG instead of paying for it.
The company said the emissions reduction impact of U.S. LNG is the equivalent of electrifying 100 percent of U.S. passenger vehicles, powering every home in America with rooftop solar and battery backup packs, and doubling U.S. wind capacity by 54,000 industrial-scale windmills.
“The United States is blessed to have the natural gas that it has, the largest economically-developable resource in the world. Four countries collectively have approximately two-thirds of the world’s natural gas resource: the United States, Russia, Iran, and Qatar,” Rice said. “And the substantial majority of the world is reliant on coal. We need to provide solutions and to do that, we need to prioritize LNG and pipeline infrastructure to allow us to connect our resource to end-users.”