U.S.-Europe trade deal promises ‘Climate Armageddon’

The group Friends of the Earth obtained a leaked EU document that details how the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership would kill December’s Paris climate deal by making it harder for the nations to live up to their obligations to reduce emissions.

Negotiations between the U.S. and EU began Monday on finalizing the trade partnership.

The leaked EU document contains an outline of the deal’s energy chapter, including measures that would upend energy efficiency and conservation goals while promoting fossil fuel development abroad.

“The proposal calls for eliminating all restrictions on the export of natural gas, which means more fracking in the U.S. and more imports of American fossil fuels to Europe,” said Paul de Clerck, economic justice coordinator at Friends of the Earth Europe. “This is the opposite of what we need at a time when we know that the vast majority of them need to stay in the ground.”

A top trade analyst with the environmental group said the deal promises “Climate Armageddon” if approved, by relaxing controls on natural gas exports between the U.S. and its European allies.

“The EU proposal would terminate controls on natural gas exports between the U.S. and EU, subvert clean energy programs, and ramp up climate change by encouraging extraction of fossil fuels,” according to Bill Waren, senior trade analyst at Friends of the Earth. “The U.S.-EU trade deal, like the Trans Pacific Partnership agreement now pending before Congress, promises Climate Armageddon.”

Several green groups want a ban on producing crude oil and natural gas from the practice known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. The practice injects a mixture of water and sand deep underground to produce oil and gas from shale.

Although the environmental groups oppose the practice, analysts and the industry said the enormous amount of natural gas it produces is helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Natural gas is much cleaner than coal, and the U.S. produces most of its electricity from gas-fired power plants. The groups want all fossil fuels to be eliminated in favor of resources that produce zero emissions such as solar and wind.