NATURE AND ENVIRONMENTGLOBAL ISSUES
World leaders crack down on methane pollution
Ajit Niranjan
11/17/2022November 17, 2022
Some of the biggest oil and gas producers say they will cut their emissions of the powerful planet-heating gas at the COP27 climate summit.
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Several countries that draw fossil fuels out of the ground, spewing vast amounts of methane gas in the process, have promised new laws to cheaply rein in their pollution.
“It’s basically plumbing,” US climate envoy John Kerry told the COP27 climate summit on Thursday, asking every country to come to the next summit with national methane action plans.
Canada will force oil companies to find and fix leaks every month. Nigeria will restrict practices like venting, where companies release methane gas into the air, and flaring, where they burn it.
Seven of the biggest fossil fuel importers and exporters — the US, EU, UK, Canada, Singapore, Norway and Japan — announced last week they would take “immediate action” to stop methane belching out of coal, oil and gas facilities.
On Thursday, Chinese climate envoy Xie Zhenhua surprised a meeting of ministers trying to cut methane emissions by announcing a national action plan for the world’s biggest methane polluter. The document has been finalized but not yet approved, he said.
Oil rigs at sunset in KazakhstanOil rigs at sunset in Kazakhstan
Countries like Kazakhstan and Russia emit vast amounts of methane when extracting oil and gasImage: robertharding/IMAGO
Methane molecules act like a blowtorch over the surface of the Earth. They do not last as long in the atmosphere as carbon dioxide but heat the planet more than 80 times more over 20 years.
Cutting methane emissions is a “climate game-changer,” US President Joe Biden told the COP27 summit as he presented a $20 billion (€19.3 billion) national methane reduction plan in a speech last week.
Risk of missing climate targets
Taken together, the announcements at COP27 represent some of the most concrete efforts to stop a powerful but overlooked gas from baking the planet. But they fall short of what world leaders would need to do to honor their promise to try to limit planetary heating to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 F) by the end of the century.
Cutting methane pollution 45% this decade would avoid 0.3 degrees Celsius of global warming by the 2040s and could be done with technologies that are already cheap and mature, according to a 2021 report published by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
At the last climate summit, the US and EU led a push to cut methane emissions 30% by 2030 — less than the UN recommendation — with a pledge that has since been signed by more than 140 countries.
Broader economic measures — like building more clean energy and using less gas to make electricity and heat buildings — are needed to make up the difference, said Maria Pastukhova, an energy analyst at the climate think tank E3G. “Otherwise there is a risk of not meeting the 1.5 C goal.”
A thermostat being replaced by a smartmeterA thermostat being replaced by a smartmeter
Turning a thermostat down 1 degree Celsius can cut gas demand by 7%, according to the International Energy AgencyImage: Jochen Tack/picture alliance
Some of the world’s biggest methane polluters, including Russia and China, have not signed the pledge. Russia has been isolated internationally since it invaded Ukraine. Chinese climate envoy Xie Zhenhua said on Thursday that China has finished its draft national strategy to strictly control methane emissions from energy, agriculture and waste. He stopped short of joining the pledge.
“We don’t know how ambitious this plan will turn out to be, but it provides a clear signal that China is moving to align its climate and energy policies with the 1.5 C goal,” said Pastukhova.
Jonathan Banks, who works to cut methane emissions at the nonprofit Clean Air Task Force, said: “COP26 was methane’s breakthrough moment. COP27 has given us proof of global momentum.”
Cheap solution to stop extreme weather getting worse
Tackling methane is no replacement for cutting carbon dioxide pollution. But it is one of the most powerful short-term tools to keep heat waves from growing hotter and tropical cyclones from growing stronger.
When companies extract and move fossil fuels without proper safeguards, they pump methane into the air. This happens at every stage of the supply chain — right down to kitchens. A study published in January found methane leaking out of gas stoves in the US each year is heating the planet by as much as half a million cars.
A person lighting a gas stove in Bavaria, GermanyA person lighting a gas stove in Bavaria, Germany
Gas stoves release methane into the air and other pollutants that hurt people’s lungsImage: Action Pictures/IMAGO
But the invisible clouds of methane billowing out of fossil fuel facilities are among the cheapest to fix. By banning practices like routine venting and flaring, and finding and fixing leaks, companies can reduce the amount of gas that goes to waste and save money in the process.
As part of its $20 billion action plan, the US will cut methane emissions from such sources 87% below 2005 levels by the end of the decade, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. The cornerstones of its plan are forcing companies to identify leaks with satellites, capping abandoned wells and improving industrial equipment.
“If the proposal is implemented as is, we can expect significant methane emissions reduction from the oil and gas sector,” said Arvind Ravikumar, a scientist studying sustainable energy transitions at the University of Texas at Austin in the US.
Gas flaring at a Total oil platform in NigeriaGas flaring at a Total oil platform in Nigeria
Companies could save money if they were forced to stop venting and flaring unwanted gasImage: PIUS UTOMI EKPEI/AFP
Nigeria has promised to boost efforts to tackle flaring and launched a tracker to monitor it. When oil companies try to burn excess methane, often inefficiently, they waste gas that could be used elsewhere. The share of gas that escapes unburned heats the planet more than it would if it were used as fuel.
“Flaring gas is actually like squandering your resources,” said Olushola Adesida, director of Nigeria’s National Oil Spill and Detection Response Agency.
Experts say countries are making progress on cutting methane emissions. The announcement by China means action plans now cover about two-thirds of humanity’s methane emissions.
“This is a massive development from a country that accounts for 16% of global emissions,” said Marcelo Mena Carrasco, CEO of the philanthropic fund Global Methane Hub and former environment minister of Chile. The Global Methane Hub says it has partnered with eight nonprofit organizations to support the plan.
“We are ready to help turn this promise into reality,” he said.
Edited by: Tamsin Walker
Ajit Niranjan Climate reporter
@NiranjanAjit
