By signing an agreement to increase the Croatian LNG terminal's capacity by 100%, the government is agreeing to deepening the climate crisis, energy insecurity, plundering public money, and inciting conflicts in other states, Green Action activists said on Wednesday.

They protested outside Government House against last week’s agreement between the LNG Croatia company and Norway’s Wartsila Gas Solutions to double the capacity of the terminal on the northern Croatian island of Krk.

The activists protested because the agreement was okayed by Economy Minister Davor Filipovic.

A new environmental impact study should have been done before the agreement was signed, Green Action vice president Marija Mileta said.

It’s unacceptable that the government is doubling the terminal’s capacity because that “will lock Croatia in at least two more decades of fossil fuel use,” she said, adding that those decades should be used to abandon such fuels, primarily gas.

A recently presented study on the degasification of Croatia showed that the heating and electricity sectors could be fully decarbonised by 2035, Mileta said, adding that the government has shown no interest in the study.

Croatia imports LNG also from countries like Mozambique, where entire communities have been forcibly displaced for the purpose of gas extraction, she said, adding that thereby the Croatian government is “actually inciting conflicts” in them.

Mileta announced that Green Action will stage a protest in downtown Zagreb on Saturday, Earth Day.