US opens talks with global gas heavyweights on emission tracking
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Curbing methane emissions from the oil and gas sector is seen as critical to reducing the climate impact of those fossil fuels.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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WASHINGTON – Some of the world’s biggest natural gas exporters and importers will craft a framework for measuring, monitoring and verifying the emissions of methane across the fuel’s supply chain under an international working group the Biden administration announced on Wednesday.
The formal effort was unveiled hours after European Union negotiators agreed on a plan to limit methane emissions from imported oil and gas. It also comes weeks before t he COP28 climate summit, an array of climate commitments,
The new International Working Group on measurement, monitoring, reporting and verification (MMRV) of greenhouse gas emissions is the result of about half a year of informal talks between the US government, energy producers, exporters of liquefied natural gas and other stakeholders. Formalising the process represents the next step to creating global benchmarks for identifying, tracking and verifying emissions of methane and other greenhouse gases as natural gas is extracted, processed and shipped to market.
The MMRV working group’s participants are Australia, Brazil, Britain, Canada, Colombia, East Mediterranean Gas Forum, European Commission, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mozambique, Norway, South Korea and the US. They will work through 2024 to develop “guidance, protocols and tools for voluntary use in natural gas markets”, according to the US Energy Department.
Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas that has more than 80 times the warming power of carbon dioxide during its first two decades in the atmosphere. Curbing methane emissions from the oil and gas sector – where it is vented intentionally from wells, burned off as a waste product or simply leaks from equipment – is seen as critical to reducing the climate impact of those fossil fuels.
Some environmental activists argue the endeavour could foster false confidence that certain natural gas supplies are climate friendly, based on the promise of stronger emissions reporting and monitoring technology that is not fully honed.
The approach could prolong the usage of natural gas instead of the “clean-up and phase-out” that science requires, said Ms Lauren Pagel, policy director at Earthworks. “Any attempt to use reporting, verification or measurement to greenwash fossil fuels has the potential to put us over the edge of a climate catastrophe.”
Supporters say the effort could help develop guidelines for what is now a free-for-all of third-party companies measuring methane emissions and certifying oil and gas producers’ performance.
“There is a pressing need to provide comparable and reliable information on emissions to the marketplace,” Mr Brad Crabtree, assistant secretary of fossil energy and carbon management, said in a news release.
The working group “will forge agreement among importing and exporting countries on a transparent and credible framework that will help provide suppliers, buyers, investors and policymakers the information they need to help drive continuous reductions in greenhouse gas emissions over time”. BLOOMBERG
