US: A new comprehensive study by the International Energy Agency has found that US oil and natural gas wells, pipelines, and compressors are emitting three times the amount of heat-trapping gas methane as the government has determined, causing $9.3bn in yearly climate damage.
The lead author of a study in Nature stated that this problem is both worse than the government has determined and also fairly fixable. The same issue is happening globally, with large methane emissions events around the world detected by satellites growing 50% in 2023 compared to 2022, with more than 5m metric tons spotted in major fossil fuel leaks.
The International Energy Agency reported that large methane emissions events around the world detected by satellites grew 50% in 2023 compared with 2022, with more than 5m metric tons spotted in major fossil fuel leaks. The study found that about 3% of the US gas produced is wasted and released into the air, compared with the Environmental Protection Agency figures of 1%. This is a substantial amount, about 6.2m tons an hour in leaks measured over the daytime.
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Methane over a two-decade period traps about 80 times more heat than carbon dioxide but only lasts in the atmosphere for about a decade instead of the hundreds of years that carbon dioxide does. About 30% of the world’s warming since preindustrial times comes from methane emissions, with the US being the No. 1 oil and gas production methane emitter. Last December, the Biden administration issued a new rule forcing the US oil and natural gas industry to cut its methane emissions. At the United Nations climate negotiations in Dubai, 50 oil companies around the world pledged to reach near-zero methane emissions and end routine flaring in operations by 2030.
