Methane is a dangerous greenhouse gas that is often overlooked in climate action. In Geneva, experts will present concrete solutions to reduce emissions.
According to experts, leaks in pipelines and loose seals allow tons of dangerous methane gas to escape into the atmosphere. This contributes to climate change. How emissions can be reduced quickly without major investments is the topic at this week’s global methane gas forum in Geneva. “We are talking about methane leaks, a huge problem,” said Dario Liguti, director for sustainable energy at the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), to the German Press Agency. UNECE is hosting the forum.
Around 1,000 representatives of industry, science and governments from more than 100 countries want to work together to ensure that announced projects to solve the problem are finally implemented. Unece offers expertise, for example on how to detect and repair leaks, said Liguti.
The problem
Methane is the second most important greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide (CO2) and is estimated to have contributed around 30 percent to global warming since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. It is a very effective greenhouse gas: calculated over 20 years, it has around 85 times as much climate impact as CO2. Around 60 percent of the methane in the atmosphere is due to human influence. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), around 40 percent of these emissions arise in the energy industry.
But while CO2 remains in the atmosphere for hundreds or more years, methane slowly breaks down after about twelve years. If emissions were reduced, the contribution to curbing climate-damaging greenhouse gases would quickly be noticeable. According to experts, this could be an important contribution to achieving the goal of keeping warming below 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels.
Where methane is produced
Methane is produced, among other things, in the oil, gas and coal industries. “Around 75 percent of these emissions could be stopped with little or no cost because they arise, for example, from pipeline leaks or loose seals,” said Liguti. On the one hand, this is in the interests of the companies themselves. “They lose income because the methane could be used.” It is also an important contribution to improving the climate balance of the respective country.
Liguti pointed to ever-improving satellite images that could show methane leaks. He expects new evaluations soon, which could certainly identify several dozen “super emitters” – actors who emit particularly large amounts of methane.
Only recently, a study for production regions in the USA showed that significantly larger amounts of methane are released during oil and gas production than previously assumed. Almost three percent of the methane produced escaped into the atmosphere unused – three times more than the US government currently takes into account, a research team reported in the journal Nature.
Germany and coal
According to experts, the largest amounts of methane are currently being released in China, primarily by the coal industry. When it comes to emissions from the oil and gas industry, the USA leads the way, followed by Russia. Europe is less affected by methane emissions than other regions; the coal industry in particular plays a role here, it was said. “It’s a shame that Germany has returned to coal to produce heat and electricity,” said Liguti. However, Europe is aware of the problem and has clear guidelines for the energy transition.
Livestock problem
Around a third of methane emissions worldwide come from livestock farming. According to the Federal Environment Agency, the most efficient measure to reduce emissions in Germany is to eat less meat so that fewer cows are kept. Cows produce methane when digesting their feed; it is released into the atmosphere through belching when they ruminate.
International agreement
At the initiative of the EU and the USA, numerous countries decided at the climate conference in Glasgow in 2021 to reduce methane emissions by 30 percent from 2020 to 2030. The project – called the Global Methane Pledge (GMP) – is intended to reduce global warming by at least 0.2 degrees by 2050.
However, there is no mandatory reporting by oil and gas producing companies on methane emissions, Lena Höglund-Isaksson from the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) in Laxenburg (Austria) recently explained. Only governments and the European Union have the legal authority to force companies to measure and report emissions – and should urgently introduce such legally binding regulations.
The IIASA expert also explained that the costs of sealing leaks are not high and in many cases are covered by the higher income from the sale of the now retained gas. “Yet most oil and gas companies are not interested in doing this.”
The reason is that they invest primarily where they can achieve the highest return. “Because profit margins in oil and gas production are very high, an investment in increasing production almost always trumps the relatively smaller profit from controlling methane leaks, especially at times when world market prices for oil and gas are high – such as current.” It cannot therefore be assumed that the industry will voluntarily reduce its emissions without special regulations.
EU on methane emissions Swiss Academy of Sciences on methane Federal Environment Agency on methane Methane tracker from the International Energy Agency Study in Nature