Video Remarks: Brad Crabtree at Japan LNG Producer Consumer Conference

I am pleased to join you by video today, and I am sorry that I cannot be with you in person.

I want to start by thanking the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry for inviting me to share a few words with you. 

The U.S. Department of Energy’s participation in this conference dates back to its inception in 2012, and we are pleased to participate again this year—especially as we are focusing on important pathways toward a sustainable future for natural gas.

And that is increasingly important when it comes to liquefied natural gas.

Today, the United States produces more natural gas and exports more LNG than any other country. We expect those exports to more than double by the end of this decade, once all projects currently under construction are completed.

In addition to this doubling of U.S. exports by 2030, there are several other projects authorized for export, but which have not yet secured a final investment decision and are not yet under construction.

So, with our current export capacity, plus future additions coming online, we will be able to continue to supply Japan and our other key allies and trading partners.

With the privilege of being the world’s largest producer and exporter of natural gas, comes great responsibility, and it is imperative that we reconcile role as a natural gas exporter with achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions economywide by midcentury. 

The credibility and long-term viability of the natural gas industry – both in the United States and globally – hinges on meeting this challenge. It is simply not enough to claim that natural gas will displace more emissions-intensive fuels like coal and oil.

Instead, industry must demonstrate through concrete actions a credible path that puts natural gas firmly on a trajectory to net-zero emissions by 2050. 

That is especially true in today’s evolving natural gas market, where customers and governments in importing countries—including Japan and Korea—have begun to demand lower emissions natural gas exports and a decarbonized natural gas value chain. 

And we welcome Japan and Korea’s initiative to create the Coalition for LNG Emission Abatement toward Net-zero (CLEAN) as an important contribution to this effort. 

We believe that three things are central to the path forward toward sustainable natural gas: 

• One, reducing methane emissions to near zero across the global supply chain by 2030; 
• Two, rapidly deploying decarbonization technologies and infrastructure, especially carbon capture and storage; and 
• Three, laying the foundation for low-carbon ammonia and hydrogen produced from natural gas with carbon capture and other low- and zero-carbon resources. 

In the United States, the Department of Energy is leveraging funding and incentives provided by the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to help give industry the tools to reduce greenhouse gas emissions across the natural gas value chain – and produce low-carbon hydrogen and ammonia. 

Internationally, we are also working to promote the development of a natural gas market in which buyers can confidently demand, and producers can credibly supply, natural gas with a lower methane and carbon dioxide emissions profile. The goal is to foster a global market that rewards continuous reductions in the emissions intensity of natural gas over time. 

But amidst the confusion of multiple private and public sector efforts to measure methane and carbon dioxide emissions associated with the natural gas supply chain, there is currently no global consensus regarding expectations that purchasers, regulators, and other stakeholders should have for companies making claims about the greenhouse gas intensity of delivered or contracted gas. 

So, for the past year we have been supporting a work group of 19 natural gas importing and exporting countries—including Japan and Korea—plus the European Commission and the East Mediterranean Gas Forum, to develop a shared approach to providing credible information regarding supply chain greenhouse gas emissions from different suppliers across the global market – in other words, an agreed global framework for measurement, monitoring, reporting and verification, or MMRV. 

Our technical subgroups are on track to have important elements of this framework ready early next year for implementation of a voluntary global framework for MMRV in the 2025-2026 timeframe. 

We appreciate the contributions of Japan, Korea and other global partners to this effort. We also welcome the support of the natural gas industry and other stakeholders around the world.

At the same time, we need more companies to make concrete commitments, and with greater urgency, if industry is to demonstrate to the broader public that natural gas is ultimately compatible with a net-zero world and a fundamental part of the broader portfolio of climate solutions. 

And we at the U.S. Department of Energy look forward to continuing to work with your governments and industries to advance a broader and more ambitious methane mitigation and decarbonization agenda. 

Thank you.