Energy
For gas, which is itself predominantly methane, emissions occur throughout the entire supply chain, including extraction, processing, liquefaction, transmission, storage and distribution.
For oil and coal, methane emissions occur primarily at or around the oil pad or coal mine during extraction and processing. Fossil gas used in petrochemicals to produce plastic is also an important source of methane emissions. The fossil fuel sector offers the most cost-effective mitigation potential, with up to 80 per cent of measures in oil and gas and 98 per cent in coal being low or negative cost. Reductions are all the more important as a recent IEA analysis suggests that global methane emissions from the energy sector are around 70 per cent higher than officially reported by national governments.1
Energy-Related News and Releases
-
All Post Types
-
News
-
Releases
Methane’s short lifespan makes it an attractive target for reducing climate warming quickly. Reducing human-caused methane emissions by up to 45% within a decade could prevent nearly 0.3°C of global warming by 2045 according to UNEP. This would support limiting global temperature rise to 1.5°C, aligning with the Paris Agreement goal and prevent health issues and premature deaths from ground-level ozone (air pollution). In addition, global crop yields could increase by more than 25 million tonnes per year.
Berlin, 10 April 2024: Climate-damaging methane emissions from opencast lignite mining in Germany are massively underestimated by the responsible regulatory authorities and in the German government’s greenhouse gas inventories and projection reports. […]
The International Energy Agency (IEA) today presented the latest data on methane emissions with the annual update of the “Global Methane Tracker”. […]
We, a coalition of non-profit organisations working on methane mitigation, are writing in response to the recent communication on Europe’s 2040 climate target and path to climate neutrality by 2050 building a sustainable, just, and prosperous society. While we welcome the ambitious target of a net reduction of greenhouse gas by 90%, we are concerned at the removal of the proposed 30% reduction target for non-C02 emissions […]
Methane is the second most important greenhouse gas (GHG), in excess of 80 times more powerful than carbon dioxide (CO2) over a 20-year period. About 60 per cent of methane emissions come from human activities in the agriculture (40 per cent), energy (35 per cent) and waste sectors (20 per cent). […]
Recognizing that, in order to ensure that the global community meets the Paris Agreement goal of keeping warming well below 2°C, while pursuing efforts to limit warming to 1.5°C, significant methane emission reductions must be achieved globally by 2030. […]
Methane emissions are a threat to global climate and human health. Atmospheric methane concentrations are at their highest ever, having risen by almost 10 per cent in the past 20 years. […]
The European Green Deal puts the Union on a path to climate neutrality by 2050 through the deep decarbonisation of all sectors of the economy. It also aims to protect, conserve and enhance the EU’s natural capital, and protect the health and well-being of citizens from environment-related risks and impacts. […]
Image Credits:
"":
Other Main Sources of Methane Emission
The agricultural sector is responsible for around 54 per cent of all man-made methane emissions in the EU. There are already a number of cost-effective and immediately implementable solutions to reduce emissions. These include switching to a healthier and more sustainable diet, as well as reduced and improved consumption of meat and dairy products and technical measures in livestock farming.
The waste sector is the second largest source of anthropogenic methane emissions in the EU and contributes to around 27 per cent of all such emissions. The main strategies to reduce solid waste emissions are reduction, source separation and treatment of organic waste.