The groups, led by Friends of the Earth, released a letter to Biden at the COP28 United Nations climate summit in Dubai, where dozens of nations are pushing for a global agreement to phase out use of CO2-emitting fossil fuels like LNG.

LNG is natural gas used for heating and electricity that has been cooled to a liquid state for shipping and storage. Climate activists advocate for phasing out fossil fuels like LNG and replacing them with renewable sources like wind and solar.

The letter demands that the administration stop permitting new LNG facilities and cease financial and diplomatic support for the industry.

The Biden administration has approved five U.S. LNG export licenses to serve the European market following Russia’s Feb. 24, 2022 invasion of Ukraine, having approved none beforehand.

The U.S. is the world’s largest exporter of LNG, with most of those shipments going to Europe as it seeks to wean itself from a reliance on Russian gas. Carbon dioxide emissions from U.S. LNG facilities have soared 81% since 2019, according to government data.

“Any push for a phase-out of all fossil fuels at COP28 risks falling flat if the world’s leading LNG exporter shows no signs of changing course,” the letter said. “We urge the Biden administration to publicly commit during COP to no further regulatory, financial, or diplomatic support for LNG in the United States or anywhere in the world.”

Ahead of next November’s U.S. presidential election, Biden will have to consider how approvals for fossil fuel projects could alienate environmentally minded voters who are part of his base.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

U.S. LNG exports averaged a record 11.6 billion cubic feet per day during the first half of 2023, up 4% from the first half of last year, according to the Energy Information Administration. In November, about 68% of U.S. LNG was exported to Europe, according to LSEG.

The Seapeak Catalunya tanker has changed course from Egypt’s Idku LNG plant and is now heading to the Algeria’s Arzew LNG facility instead, LSEG analyst Olumide Ajayi said citing shipping data.

Chevron (CVX.N) has shut down the Israeli Tamar gas field amid the military conflict in the country and suspended exports through the subsea EMG pipeline, which runs from Ashkelon in southern Israel to Egypt.

Egypt relies on Israeli gas imports to meet some of its domestic demand and therefore the pipeline cuts mean there is less gas available for LNG exports, Ajayi said.

This year to-date, 50% of Egyptian exports have been sold into the European Union and Britain, based on LSEG ship-tracking data, he added.

However, the country has not exported any LNG since July amid high domestic demand this summer and was only set to resume exports in October.

Egypt imports about 7 billion cubic feet per year of natural gas from the Israeli Tamar and Leviathan gas fields, according to data from consultancy Rystad Energy.

Egypt exported 3.7 million tonnes of LNG between Oct. 2022 and Jan. 2023, hitting a high of just below 1 million tonnes in Dec. 2022, the firm said in a note.

The ongoing conflict is likely to have a limited impact on prompt European gas prices given current mild weather, full storages and the potential for more U.S. LNG imports, Aditya Saraswat, head of Middle East upstream research at Rystad Energy said.

“However, there remains a risk of escalation into a broader conflict that could cause a short-term increase in energy prices,” Saraswat said.

The front-month Dutch TTF hub contract , the European benchmark, was trading 3.4% lower on Thursday at 47.80 euros per megawatt hour, but still some 25% higher than before the Israel-Hamas conflict.