Woodside commits $18bn to US project that climate advocates warn ‘would export harmful gas until the 2070s’

The CEO of Woodside Energy, Meg O’Neill, says the company’s investment in a Louisiana project is historic, but climate advocates say investors should take a stand against increased emissions at next week’s AGM. Photograph: Callaghan O’Hare/Reuters

Australian energy company Woodside will spend $18bn on a new liquified natural gas (LNG) project in the US that one advocacy group said would add 1.6bn tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions over its 40-year life.

Climate advocates said the announcement, made the week before Woodside’s annual general meeting, would put further pressure on the company after a major rebuke from shareholders last year over its emissions plan.