Greenhouse Gas Estimates of LNG Exports Must Include Global Market Effects

We conduct a consequential lifecycle analysis (LCA) of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from North American liquefied natural gas (LNG) export projects, estimating the change in global natural gas and coal use resulting from the market effects of increased LNG trade. We estimate that building a 2.1 billion cubic feet per day (Bcfd) LNG export facility, equivalent to one of the larger LNG projects under development in the US today, will change global GHG emissions −39 to 11 Mt CO2e (90% range) with a median value of −8 Mt CO2e. Previous attributional LCA methods for electricity generation with LNG replacing coal find a much larger benefit of LNG exports, a median value of −36 Mt CO2e for this size project. The smaller decrease in GHGs is attributable to higher domestic coal use and a smaller decrease in international coal use than assumed by previous methods. Net global emission change estimates are most sensitive to the uncertainty in economic elasticities outside of North America. Given the scale of planned and proposed LNG export terminals, project regulators and policymakers must account for market effects to more accurately estimate the global net change in GHG emissions.