The super-emitting methane gas crisis

I went down a methane-filled rabbit hole (not literally, thankfully) and, while it wasn't fun being down there, it was illuminating, and deeply concerning. Why? Because a big chunk of the methane gas crisis is preventable, but tracking and tougher regulations are only just getting under way.

Methane gas is eighty times more potent than CO2 – and methane emissions account for somewhere between 25-30% of global warming. Until recently, even gigantic methane leaks around the world were barely even known about. Now Kayross, a data analytics company, together with the European Space Agency, has established the satellite-enabled Methane Watch. Thanks to this, over one hundred countries joined the Global Methane Pledge (pledging to curb methane footprint by 30% by 2030) at COP26.

Blame it on the cows?

So far, so good, right? But let's take a closer look. The agriculture industry is often seen as the major culprit when it comes to methane gas emissions. Cows have been getting an increasingly bad reputation for doing what they do – certainly can't blame them, but what we could do is stop the meat and dairy industry from pumping ever more of their wares into humanity – if humanity were to curb meat and dairy consumption by half – the world would be better off. But that's a whole different subject!

A look at the energy sector

While the agricultural sector is indeed the largest contributor to methane gas emissions (aka global warming), they are closely followed by another industry that could absolutely do something about what they are doing – I'm talking about the energy sector – nearly 40% of all methane gas emissions around the world come courtesy of the energy industries (oil, gas, coal). There's a great deal of information out there – here's a good starting point, with the International Energy Agency's Methane Tracker. And here their Methane Tracker 2023 analysis.

With these industries, actually very little has been regulated in the past with regard to methane gas. In oil drilling, gas is often seen as a useless by-product. Fracking brings forth both oil and gas – but while the oil is captured, capturing mechanisms for gas are often missing. Tougher regulations in the EU and the US are now underway and hopefully soon manage to make a material difference.

Some reasons for methane gas emissions

One of them is called Venting – gas is released on purpose "for safety reasons, due to the design of the facility or equipment, or operational requirements, like basically blowing a pipeline clean for inspection or maintenance. Then there is Flaring – you often see those flares with oil rigs – gigantic flames against the skylines. That's done "when the natural gas cannot be used or recovered economically." As part of this flaring, much of the gas is converted into CO2 – but a portion is still released as methane into the atmosphere.

And then there are the super-emitters

What's called Fugitive is when methane emissions occur from leakages that are not intended, because of broken seals or leaking valves – or explosions. When these are large enough, scientists speak of super-emitter events, such as the results from the Nord Stream gas pipeline explosions. There are countless methane leaks across the global on a daily basis – just look at this screenshot from the Kayross Methane Watch tracker:

A recent Guardian article looks at super-emitting methane leaks. Let me just share the first two paragraphs to give you a sense of scope – and clear and present danger: "More than 1,000 “super-emitter” sites gushed the potent greenhouse gas methane into the global atmosphere in 2022, the Guardian can reveal, mostly from oil and gas facilities. The worst single leak spewed the pollution at a rate equivalent to 67m running cars. Separate data also reveals 55 “methane bombs” around the world – fossil fuel extraction sites where gas leaks alone from future production would release levels of methane equivalent to 30 years of all US greenhouse gas emissions."

As shown above, the energy industry has it in its power to track and fix and capture methane gas - for the most part, it just wasn't mandated to do so until recently and - in most places in the world, it still isn't. Methane gas continues to be freely flared and vented and continues to escape unchallenged into the atmosphere. If the energy sector fixes this around the global - it can lower the expected global warming substantially. All of that may sounds too broad and thus difficult to grasp.

One concrete example

Here's one specific example: On the 6th of November of last year the people of Jackson, PA heard suddenly heard booming noises - like jets flying past. Little later there was the small of rotten eggs. As it turned out, at a nearby oil and gas drilling operation a methane gas leak had occurred. It was so bit that it was visible from space with a yellow cloud over Pennsylvania. The leak was fixed, but it took two weeks to do so. By that time 23'000 tons of methane had risen into the atmosphere, which is, according to the article, about as much as the emissions of 360'000 cars over the course of a whole year. You see, in a very short time methane gas, which is vastly more damaging than CO2, can wreak lasting havoc.

Now take that example and look at the above dots again. That's what it happening. Now.