Inspenet, October 20, 2023.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) recently announced that it is essential to immediately reduce methane emissions from fossil fuels as a measure to control global warming and that substantial reductions can be achieved using existing technologies at low cost.
Although methane is much less common in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide, it has contributed 30% to the global rise in temperatures to date. Although its permanence in the atmosphere is limited to approximately a decade, methane captures energy more quickly than carbon dioxide. Therefore, reducing emissions of this greenhouse gas is considered an effective and rapid way to control global warming in the short term and to significantly improve air quality.
It is important to mention that the energy industry generates almost 40% of methane emissions caused by human activities, but has made limited progress in reducing them.
“ Immediate reductions in methane emissions are needed to limit warming to 1.5°C ,” says the International Energy Agency.
Oil activity and methane emissions
According to the agency, 75% of methane emissions from the oil and gas industry and half of those produced by coal mining could be reduced through the use of existing technologies.
Furthermore, the IEA indicated that the cost of implementing all available mitigation strategies in the oil and gas industry until 2030 would be less than 2% of the net revenue generated by this industry in 2022.
Although methane emissions are expected to decline as the world moves toward its net-zero emissions goals, the report notes that even meeting these goals would not be enough to achieve the necessary reductions.
The report also highlights that the benefits of reducing these emissions go beyond mitigating climate change, as they would also help avoid nearly one million premature deaths due to ozone exposure and the loss of 90 million tons of crops. for the year 2050.
Loading...
