Greenpeace protest against fossil gas at LNG offshore terminal in Croatia
Greenpeace protest against fossil gas at LNG offshore terminal in Croatia
Krk, Croatia, 19 October 2021 - Greenpeace Central Eastern Europe (CEE) activists staged a peaceful protest at the recently inaugurated liquefied natural gas (LNG) offshore terminal on the island of Krk in Croatia calling on EU leaders to move away from fossil gas. Last evening at 5 pm, activists on board inflatable boats painted "CLIMATE KILLER!" across the side of the facility, to highlight the climate threats of expanding gas infrastructure. Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise visited the Adriatic to promote the European Citizen Initiative (ECI) petition that calls for a ban on fossil fuel advertising.
Fossil Gas Protest in at the LNG terminal in Croatia - Gregor Gobec © Greenpeace
The protest took place at the recently opened liquefied gas terminal, a facility that cost €233.6 million and was almost entirely covered by the EU and state funding [1]. The Croatian government still plans further expansion of the fossil gas infrastructure and looks for EU funding to pay for it [2]. As European leaders are about to meet in Brussels to discuss a surge in gas prices [3], Greenpeace protest highlighted that fossil gas is a false solution to reduce emissions and that dependency on gas is detrimental to the climate, EU economies and households.
"Less than two weeks to go until COP26, Europe is buzzing with how to further increase dependence on fossil gas that would lock us into more emissions, in other words, pushing us further towards the climate catastrophe, when we so urgently need to move away from fossil fuels. The fossil gas lobby continues pocketing from destroying the climate and the energy prices crisis that it created, while European citizens are footing the bill. Public money must stop being thrown down the drain to fund new fossil gas infrastructure. All the new investments need to focus on renewables, energy efficiency and storage solutions”, said Joanna Flisowska, European gas campaigner at Greenpeace CEE.
Studies confirm the entire fossil gas supply chain is unavoidably linked with uncontrolled methane emissions. Gas infrastructure all over Europe is often leaking methane and the impacts are proving to be more concerning than previously thought [4]. International institutions and organisations such as the UN are alarming about the importance of cutting down methane emissions in a fight against the climate crisis [5]. Greenpeace CEE warns that the gas rigs in the Croatian Adriatic are largely outdated and unreliable, as one of them even collapsed last year, and has been left on the seafloor after going missing for five days [6].
“The fossil fuel industry tells us that fossil gas is a safe solution for the climate. This is a lie. Gas is fuelling the climate crisis just like coal and oil. Fossil gas industry promotes false solutions and uses their propaganda to distract and mislead the public with a clear aim to delay a green and just transition. We’re here today to lift the veil on an industry that has ‘climate killer’ written all over it and call for the move away from fossil gas.”, said Flisowska.
According to Greenpeace Netherlands recent report, Words Vs. Actions, fossil gas is frequently portrayed as “clean”, “eco-friendly”, “natural” or “green”, while in reality it is the EU’s second largest source of carbon emissions [7], surpassing coal. It is increasingly clear that climate disinformation - greenwashing via advertising and sponsorships - delays climate action. In response to this, Greenpeace and 20 other NGOs have recently launched a European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) petition, calling for a new law that bans fossil fuel advertising and sponsorship in the European Union. Banning fossil fuel advertising is a concrete move to hasten a rapid phase out.
ENDS
Contacts:
Mihaela Bogeljić, national comms officer, mihaela.bogeljic@greenpeace.org, +385 92 292 9265
Marija Tomac, international comms officer, marija.tomac@greenpeace.org, +38595 6274 528
Notes:
[1] CEF Energy funding for construction of liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Croatia: https://ec.europa.eu/inea/en/news-events/newsroom/101.4-million-cef-energy-funding-to-improve-energy-security-croatia-and-region
[2] The project of KRK 2 LNG terminal has been submitted to the list of EU Projects of Common Interest (PCI) in order to secure the EU funding for it. https://ec.europa.eu/energy/consultations/consultation-list-candidate-5th-projects-common-interest-electricity-and-gas_en
[3] European leaders will meet in Brussels to discuss energy prices - European Council, 21-22 October 2021: https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/meetings/european-council/2021/10/21-22/
[4] Clean Air Task Force documented massive quantity of methane emissions at oil and gas facilities across Europe https://www.catf.us/2021/06/massive-quantity-of-me...
[5] UNEP Global Methane Assessment: Benefits and Costs of Mitigating Methane Emissions
[6] Croatian oil and gas company INA’s “Ivana D”, an offshore 500 tonne gas platform sank in December 2020, has remained on the bottom of the Adriatic almost a year after it collapsed and went missing for five days:https://cee.press.greenpeace.org/gas-platform-lost-adriatic-sea
Last week the Arctic Sunrise sailed near the site and activists protested with a 23 meter-long banner: https://cee.press.greenpeace.org/dangers-of-fossil-gas-in-the-adriatic
[7] Per capita CO₂ emissions by fuel type, 2019: https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-co2-by-fuel?country=Europe~OWID_WRL~Europe+%28excl.+EU-27%29