According to a research by the International Energy Agency, methane emissions from the energy sector stayed close to a record high in 2023 despite the industry’s pledges to patch leaking infrastructure in an effort to fight climate change.

Although methane emissions from human activities like farming, landfills, and the extraction of oil and natural gas have a brief atmospheric lifetime, their potency as a greenhouse gas is far greater than that of carbon dioxide. Approximately one-third of the increase in global temperatures during the industrial revolution can be attributed to them.

According to the IEA research, the production and consumption of fossil fuels released over 120 million metric tonnes of methane into the atmosphere in 2022, a little increase over 2022.

According to the IEA analysis, large methane plumes from leaking fossil fuel infrastructure increased by 50% in 2023 over 2022. A well blowout in Kazakhstan that lasted for more than 200 days was one super-emitting incident that was discovered by satellites.

“Fossil fuel operations continue to produce emissions that are too high,” stated Tim Gould, chief energy economist at the IEA.

Ever since the IEA launched its Global Methane Tracker in 2019, methane emissions have remained at a level of about 130 million metric tonnes.

This is true even though more than 150 nations have pledged since 2021 to cut methane emissions globally by at least 30% by the end of this decade compared to 2020 levels.

Numerous oil corporations have also made the voluntary decision to lower their emissions.

However, Gould predicted that 2024 will be a “turning point” because new satellites will help to increase transparency and monitoring around methane leaks, enabling businesses to swiftly remedy them.

A new methane-detecting satellite, supported by the Environmental Defence Fund and Google, a division of Alphabet Inc., was sent into orbit earlier this month.

Methane emissions are currently being tracked by the European Space Agency and another satellite-based tracker called GHGSat; however, the new MethaneSAT will offer more precise data and a broader field of view.

“2024 will mark a turning point for methane action and transparency,” stated IEA head of energy supply Christophe McGlade.

Since methane makes up the majority of natural gas, oil and gas corporations are motivated to seize emissions and resell them as fuel. 

According to a study published on Wednesday in the journal Nature, an average of roughly 3% of the oil and gas supplies at important U.S. production sites may be escaping as methane, three times more than the estimates provided by the national government.

According to the IEA, methane emissions from oil and gas operations are greatest in the United States.

According to a Nature study, scientists calculated that oil and gas operations in six locations, including Texas, California, and Colorado, may have emitted 6.2 million tonnes of methane emissions annually using one million aerial measurements taken over a number of years.

According to the report, oil and gas businesses may be losing $1.08 billion in market value as a result of these methane leaks.

(Adapted from JappanTimes.co.jp)

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