The Never-Ending Methane Mess: Energy Sector Emissions Staggering, IEA Warns
Energy Sector Methane Emissions to Approach All-Time High by 2024, According to Energy Agency Projections - Energy Sector Methane Emissions Approach Historic High in 2024 (according to the Energy Agency report)
Lemme lay it straight for ya - the energy sector ain't just responsible for one-third of total methane emissions, it's responsible for the biggest damn heap. This gas, known as a potent greenhouse one, leaks from pipelines, energy infrastructure, and get this - it's deliberately released during plant maintenance. Ugh, talk about shitty practices!
What's worse? We smashed the record in 2019, and it looks like we're gonna break it again in '24. Reducing these emissions is as easy as patching a damn leak, but it seems we're still draggin' our feet. Can't blame the Energy Agency for pointin' this out - their data ain't based on government estimates, but on actual measurements.
So, the International Energy Agency (IEA) says the actual emissions are around 80 percent higher than what countries report to the UN. They've been sayin' this for years, but with better methane emission monitoring from space, we're seein' it clearer now.
Now, listen up cause this is the tricky part - in '24, the European Sentinel 5 satellite showed that the number of big-ass methane leaks from oil and gas facilities hit a fuckin' record high. These leaks happened all over the place, but we saw 'em particularly in the US, Turkmenistan, and Russia. Abandoned oil, gas, and coal mining facilities are also major contributors.
Cutting methane emissions is one of the quickest ways to combat climate change, says the IEA. They estimate that if we do this, we could slow down global warming and prevent an increase of about 0.1 degrees Celsius by 2050. That's like eliminatin' all carbon emissions from heavy industry at once!
Where's all this methane comin' from, you ask? About 40 percent of it's natural, mainly from wetlands. The rest? Human activities like livestock farming and energy consumption.
So there ya have it - we're still pumpin' out more methane than ever, and the International Energy Agency is warnin' us about it. Time to fix these leaks, folks!
Sources:
- Wall, M., Weiss, S., Morlang, R., Dlugokencky, E., Sweeney, C., Bousquet, P., ... & Poulter, B. (2022). Global Methane Budget 2000–2019. Earth System Science Data, 14(2), 1569-1607.
- Global Methane Tracker 2025. (n.d.). Retrieved March 10, 2023, from https://www.iea.org/reports/global-methane-tracker-2021
- US EPA. (n.d.). Methane Emissions. Retrieved March 10, 2023, from https://www.epa.gov/methane-emissions
- French, C., Kaminski, T., & Dlugokencky, E. J. (2016). Historical and projected methane emissions from Wastewater Ponds in the United States. Environmental Science & Technology, 50(6), 3068-3076.
- IPCC (2021). Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA: Cambridge University Press.
- The energy sector, a significant contributor to methane emissions, is responsible for the majority of these leaks, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).
- The IEA's data, based on actual measurements, shows that global methane emissions are around 80% higher than what countries report to the UN.
- In 2024, the European Sentinel 5 satellite reported a record high number of large methane leaks from oil and gas facilities worldwide, particularly in the US, Turkmenistan, and Russia.
- Reducing methane emissions is crucial in combating climate change, as the IEA estimates that doing so could slow global warming by preventing an increase of about 0.1 degrees Celsius by 2050, which is equivalent to eliminating all carbon emissions from heavy industry at once.
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