Company that tracks methane leaks says crisis is worse than ever

The number of methane “super emitters” discovered by a satellite company has risen by about a third over the past year, even as fossil fuel companies have pledged to reduce their emissions of the powerful greenhouse gas.

Stephane Germain, the CEO of methane tracking company GHGSat, saidThe Associated Press On Thursday, the company reported that since the end of 2023, the company's satellites had discovered about 20,000 oil and gas operations, coal mines and landfills emitting 220 pounds of methane per hour – up from about 15,000 the year before.

“Last year we detected more emissions than ever before,” Germain said, adding that existing data on methane emissions only “scratches the surface” of reality.

“The only safe and effective way to 'clean up' fossil fuel pollution is to phase out fossil fuels.”

GHGSat's data covers the period since 50 fossil fuel companies pledged at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) in Dubai to end flaring and reduce methane emissions from their operations to “near zero” by 2030.

At the time, more than 320 civil society organizations criticized the pledge and other commitments as a “dangerous distraction.”

“The only safe and effective way to 'clean up' fossil fuel pollution is to phase out fossil fuels,” the groups wrote in an open letter. “Methane emissions and gas flaring are symptoms of a century-plus legacy of wasteful, destructive practices that are routine in the oil and gas industry as it pursues huge profits regardless of the consequences.”

“That the industry, at this crucial moment of the climate emergency, is offering to clean up its mess at the margins rather than deliver the necessary rapid oil and gas exit is an insult to the billions affected by both climate change and the industry.” “It is an appalling legacy of pollution and community health impacts,” they continued.

But now it seems the industry isn't even trying to clean up the mess around the edges.

Germain, who is sharing his company's data ahead of the next round of climate negotiations at COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, said almost half of the methane super-emitters discovered by GHGSat are linked to oil and gas. Another third came from landfills or waste disposal facilities and 16% from mining. Geographically, most superemission sites are in North America and Eurasia.

The data comes amid growing concerns about the scale of methane emissions and how they threaten efforts to rapidly reduce greenhouse gas pollution this decade and limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C. Methane is a more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide—with about 80 times the heat-trapping potential in the atmosphere in its first 20 years—but it also dissipates much more quickly. This means that curbing methane emissions could be an effective contribution to curbing temperature rises in the short term.

However, a series of studies published this year show that these emissions are trending in the wrong direction. A Nature The analysis concluded in March that U.S. oil and gas operations emit about three times as much methane as the U.S. government estimated. A Limits of science A July article noted that the growth rate of atmospheric methane concentrations had experienced an “abrupt and rapid increase” in the early 2020s, largely driven by the fossil fuel industry as well as releases from tropical wetlands.

The threat of methane emissions is one reason the climate movement has mobilized to stop the expansion of liquefied natural gas (LNG) infrastructure, as drilling and transporting the fuel regularly leaks methane. A September study found that despite industry claims that it can act as a bridge fuel, LNG actually accounts for 33%. If you look at the entire life cycle, this creates a larger greenhouse gas footprint than coal.

The fate of LNG expansion, at least in the United States, could be decided by the outcome of the 2024 presidential election. The Biden-Harris administration has paused approval of new LNG exports while the Energy Department considers the latest climate science. While a Trump-appointed judge then ended the pause, that didn't actually stop the DOE from continuing its analysis. However, a second Trump administration would almost certainly not address the risk of methane emissions further before approving further LNG exports. Former President Donald Trump has promised to “drill, baby, drill” and offered a policy wish list to fossil fuel executives supporting his campaign.

A leaked document in October revealed that a major oil and gas trade association had drawn up plans for a second Trump administration, including repealing the Biden administration's rules to curb methane emissions, such as a emissions fee.

Mattea Mrkusic, senior director of energy transition policy at Evergreen Action, warned: “Under Trump, we could double down on the expansion of dirty fossil fuel infrastructure that will expose us to harmful pollution for decades to come.”