The natural gas industry is reeling as the political climate begins to shift against the industry faster and earlier than many expected. “If large institutional financial banks stop funding fossil fuel companies, that’s going to be a real challenge,” Charlie Riedl, executive director of industry trade group Center for Liquefied Natural Gas, said this week at the Gulf Coast Energy Forum in New Orleans, according to S&P Global Platts . “That’s a conversation we have to have. If natural gas becomes the next coal, that’s going to be a real challenge.” The coal industry has been battered by all sides over the past decade, crushed by the surge of shale gas itself and by renewable energy, but also squeezed by a shrinking pool of capital as banks and insurers cut off finance. For instance, on Wednesday, insurer Axis Capital announced that it would restrict insurance to both coal and […]