Observed methane emissions from global oil and gas operations are 30 percent higher than countries estimate in reports to the UN, according to a new study that analyzed satellite observations of the powerful gas d ‘greenhouse effect.
The world’s four largest oil and gas emitters, the US, Russia, Venezuela and Turkmenistan, account for most of the global discrepancy, according to the report published last month in Nature Communications. The satellite data challenge the figures reported to the UN, which are based on so-called emission factors (estimates of how much methane they might normally release) applied to production and use rates.
Real-world data recorded by satellites suggests that these estimates are too low. The authors used a “top-down” approach to model and estimate emissions from most of the world with fossil fuel production using 22 months of detections from the European Space Agency’s Sentinel-5P satellite.
“Satellite data should be used to monitor the accuracy of national emissions inventories submitted” to the UN, said Daniel Jacob, one of the authors and a professor in the department of earth and planetary sciences. from Harvard University.
Adding top-down methods to the currently used bottom-up estimates would more accurately identify who and what is responsible for methane emissions and give governments a clearer picture of how to make the cheapest and most effective cuts . The new research is notable for its breadth, covering 96 percent of global oil and gas emissions, and reinforces previous studies that have reported methane emissions in detail.
Methane is the main component of natural gas, but it can also come out of the Earth during the production of oil and coal. The powerful greenhouse gas has more than 80 times the warming power of carbon dioxide during its first two decades in the atmosphere. Reducing gas emissions could do more to slow climate change than almost any other measure.
Three of the ten largest oil and gas methane emitters identified in the report—the United States, Canada, Uzbekistan, and Saudi Arabia—have signed the Global Methane Pledge, which aims for a 30 percent reduction percent of global gas emissions at the end of this period. decade from 2020 levels. If methane generated from human activity is responsible for a larger share of the world’s total emissions, including those from natural sources, a 30 percent reduction in that activity would have a larger effect on global methane concentrations, according to Jacob.
The study identified significant opportunities to reduce methane emissions in Venezuela, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Angola, Iraq, Ukraine, Nigeria and Mexico, all of which have methane intensities between 5 and 25 percent for their industries of oil and gas. Reducing these intensities to the global average of 2.4% would reduce the sector’s emissions globally by 18%.
