Banks are far from reigning in their most carbon intensive clients or upholding their human rights policies
(New York City, New York) — Scandal-ridden Venture Global is filing for its IPO this week during a fossil fuel glut and fierce resistance from exploited communities. Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, and Bank of America are all named financial backers of the offering valued at $3 billion. These banks already backed $4.5 billion in bond issuances by Venture Global LNG this year. In 2023, Venture Global LNG borrowed nearly $9 billion. Billions have been poured into a company that failed to deliver $3.5 billion of product, fined for permit violations by ignoring environmental rules, and still faces lawsuits from its employees. Communities from the Gulf Coast South that won a pause against new LNG/methane export permits from the Biden Administration will not back down in the face of an incoming Trump administration.
Locals see the IPO as a craven attack on their way of life as Venture Global’s projects destroy local tourism and decimate fish catch. Communities living in the wake of the operating Venture Global LNG export terminal, Calcasieu Pass, name the flaring, toxic emissions, and impacts on the local landscape as devastating. Promised jobs are often given to out of state workers who disappear once a facility is built and remaining jobs require expertise not offered to local residents.
Venture Global’s ownership of operating and proposed methane export terminals in Louisiana is catastrophic for the climate. Their facilities are the emissions equivalent of over 160 coal fired power plants. Construction for the methane gas export terminal in Southeast Louisiana, Plaquemines LNG, has led to water shortages in the local community. Venture Global is also seeking permits and financing for two additional new methane gas export terminals, the highly contested CP2 and Delta LNG.
Climate and energy experts say there is no need for fossil fuel expansion for a global energy transition, that a new surge in LNG infrastructure would provide a supply glut that could crash the price of methane gas, and that meeting net zero by 2050 necessitates ending the expansion of new fossil fuels.
“As a mother living in an environmental justice community, I witness my children’s health struggles daily, worsened by the pollution from Venture Global and other fossil fuel facilities. The pollution and constant flaring is a painful reminder of how our lives are impacted by their reckless expansion. The emissions from their operations are equivalent to over 160 coal-fired power plants, and the construction has even caused water shortages in our community. We deserve investments in our future, not destruction.
Venture Global’s IPO is not just a bad financial move; it threatens our way of life. Major banks like JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs backing this project prioritize profits over our health and safety, perpetuating environmental racism. Our air is poisoned, our water is poisoned and promises of jobs fall flat, benefiting out-of-state workers while we are left behind. It’s time to stand against this injustice for the sake of our children and our communities.” – Roishetta Ozane, Founder & Director, The Vessel Project of Louisiana
“Venture Global has been remarkably consistent in two ways: the shafting of its business partners and its ongoing, terrible operations. Here in Louisiana, the flare burns week after week, a clear sign that the company has operational problems and has no idea how the hell to fix it. Its business relationships are riddled with lawsuits. These are not promising signs on any level – not for human decency and not for people trying to make money.” – Anne Rolfes, Director, Louisiana Bucket Brigade
“Far from reigning in funding to their most carbon intensive clients, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Goldman Sachs continue to pour billions into reckless fossil fuel expanders. Once again it is clear that Wall Street’s largest banks are willing to sideline their own climate commitments and overlook the established track record of financial underperformance and broken contracts of clients like Venture Global in the pursuit of short-term profit. Each of these banks has a due diligence process that should weed out clients flagged for safety, labor, and performance issues in addition to environmental impacts, but time and time again we see these mechanisms either lack enough sophistication to thoroughly vet companies and transactions or banks are choosing to support these clients in flagrant disregard of evidence that should cause them to steer clear.” – Allison Fajans-Turner, Banks Engagement and Policy Lead, Rainforest Action Network
“Venture Global is a public health and climate disaster repackaged as a safe new LNG firm. If all their projects move forward, Americans could bear a grim cost: more than 30 premature deaths and an equivalent $500 million health impacts per year, from direct air pollution alone. As if that were not enough, each of Venture Global’s projects is a climate bomb. CP2, if completed, would emit nearly 20 times the annual climate pollution of the notorious Willow Project.” – John Noël, Deputy Climate Program Director, Greenpeace USA
“Anyone with good business sense, or a shred of decency for that matter, should be able to see that Venture Global, and the LNG industry more broadly, is a bad investment. Venture Global has proven itself to be a shady business partner, indifferent to polluting the community in which it operates. Gas demand in Europe has dropped in recent years and is projected to remain on that downward trend. The unfettered expansion of LNG exports is incompatible with meeting climate targets. Big banks supporting Venture Global’s IPO should reevaluate their financial backing.” – Roddy Hughes, Campaign Organizing Strategist for the Beyond Dirty Fuels Campaign, Sierra Club