Qatar’s Minister of State for Energy Affairs, Eng. Saad bin Sherida Al Kaabi said on Monday that his country will not be delivering liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Europe, if the EU does not look at how to water down sustainability law or cancel it.
Qatar has supplied between 12% and 14% of the bloc’s LNG since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
The EU is split over the corporate sustainability due diligence directive (CSDDD), which is a key plank of Europe’s efforts to transition to a cleaner economy, and an attempt to use the EU’s position as a major marketplace to encourage trading partners to do the same.
The leaders of Germany and France have called on the bloc to scrap the law entirely, saying it hurts European businesses’ competitiveness, while Spain has urged Brussels to keep the rules intact to support European priorities on sustainability and human rights.
The European Parliament agreed last Wednesday to consider further changes to the EU’s corporate sustainability rules, as the US and Qatar stepped up pressure on Brussels to weaken the law.
The US and Qatar had urged the European Union to scale back the law and warned on Wednesday that the rules risked disrupting liquefied natural gas trade with Europe.
In a vote that had been scheduled before the US and Qatar’s intervention, the European Parliament agreed to negotiate further changes to the law. The EU aims to approve the final changes by year-end.
On Monday, Al Kaabi reissued a threat to halt supplying Europe with liquefied natural gas, saying it will not be able to continue doing business in Europe if the EU doesn't change or cancel the law.
“We can't reach net zero, and that's one of the requirements, among other hosts of things,” said Kaabi.
“Europe needs to understand that, I think, they need the gas from Qatar. They need gas from the US,” he said. “They need the gas from many places around the world ... it's very important that they look at this very seriously.”
