Qatar's Energy Minister warns EU laws could prevent it from supplying LNG to Europe
Qatar won't be able do business with the EU, or even supply LNG to Europe to fill its energy gap if it doesn't make further changes to its corporate sustainability regulations, said Qatari energy minister Saad Al-Kaabi on Thursday.
QatarEnergy, the state-owned company that is one of the largest exporters of liquified gas in the world, has claimed that the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), adopted in 2024 poses a serious risk to the country.
EU regulation requires large companies operating in EU to fix any human rights or environmental issues within their supply chain, or else face financial penalties.
Kaabi, a member of the European Parliament’s legal committee, said that the changes were not enough to address the key concerns.
POTENTIAL FINES POSE RISK TO QATAR
Kaabi, also the CEO of QatarEnergy said that his main concern was the possibility of fines up to 5% on global revenues for companies who do not have climate-change transition plans aligned to the Paris Agreement's goal of preventing global temperatures from exceeding 1.5 Celsius.
Qatar has supplied between 12 and 14 percent of Europe's gas since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. QatarEnergy holds long-term contracts with Britain's Shell and France's TotalEnergies, as well as Italy's ENI.
Kaabi stated that "we have been trying to engage constructively with key players in both the European Commission as well as every EU member state for nearly a year on CSDDD", adding that the Commission has not responded.
A request for comment by the EU Commission was not immediately answered.
Kaabi said that Europe had to decide whether it wanted to continue attracting investment to the bloc through CSDDD or risk undermining its efforts to improve competitiveness and stop economic decline.
He said that "QatarEnergy won't be able justify doing business in Europe, whether it be in LNG or any other product, because of the significant risks it would be exposed due to overreaching regulations which will harm the European consumers in the end."
(source: Reuters)