When companies hide their deadly methane emissions

From Syria to the United States to Azerbaijan, oil and gas companies are hiding their emissions of methane, a greenhouse gas odorless, colorless, but responsible for at least a third of global warming since the industrial revolution, shows the Financial Times in a long investigationsupporting satellite images and video. Large groups, even states, knowingly undervalue these methane plumes, from Syria to the United States, including Iraq and Azerbaijan. In this country, which is hosting COP29 – the International Climate Conference – until next week, “on the shores of the Caspian Sea, less than 50 kilometers from the capital Baku, where world leaders meet, methane is released into the atmosphere, at oil and gas sites” located on the outskirts of the Azerbaijani capital, writes the Financial Times. Six plumes were detected by a sensor installed on board the International Space Station. The British business daily also worked with the American NGO Carbon Mapper to identify other methane emissions, in Azerbaijan, but also throughout the world.

Respiratory diseases, cancers: Methane is the main cause of the formation of tropospheric ozone, a pollutant responsible for the death of a million people each year from respiratory diseases and cancers, specifies the Financial Times. Methane poses a threat to the climate because it traps heat in the atmosphere, as explained in a documentary by Deutsche Welle: German international radio visited southern Iraq, where some of the world’s largest oil fields are located. We see flames burning at the top of chimneys: this is flaring, which consists of burning the excess methane that comes out of oil wells to avoid possible explosions. “These flares release carbon dioxide and, when the gas is not completely burned, they also emit methane. It is estimated that at least 30% of the current increase in global temperatures is due to methane. ‘Iraq is warming twice as fast as the rest of the planet“, indicates the German wave. At the last COP, 150 countries committed to reducing global methane emissions by 30% by 2030 as part of the Global Methane Pledge. The European Union went even further, adopting, this year, “radical regulations on methane“, underlines the Financial Times : it requires oil and gas companies to monitor, detect and repair methane leaks. But methane emissions are reaching record levels, with leaks from dilapidated installations in Iran, Angola and Venezuela, but also in rich countries like the United States. Companies “prefer to increase their production rather than fixing leaks“, explains the Financial Times. According to the International Energy Agency, global methane emissions from the energy sector are about 70% higher than the amounts reported by countries.

Reducing methane emissions is in everyone’s interest

Reducing methane emissions is not only a good gesture for the planet, but also a profitable operation, underlines the Financial Times: In the United States, for example, the scientific journal Nature carried out aerial measurements on one million wells, pipelines, oil and gas installations in six regions. According to researchers, methane emissions would be worth nearly a billion dollars on the market, summarizes the Financial Times. While waiting to valorize them, the cost for society is much higher: more than 9 billion dollars, taking into account the damage linked to human health and agricultural productivity in particular. According to the World Bank, the amount of gas burned each year could, if captured, supply electricity to all of sub-Saharan Africa for a year.

The sequel to come…