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Climate: the oil sector urged by IEA to act against methane emissions

2021-01-18T15:49:56.617Z


After the 2020 drop due to the crisis, the International Energy Agency called on professionals to "ensure there is no resurgence in methane emissions" in 2021.


After a drop in its methane emissions last year due to the crisis, the IEA on Monday urged the hydrocarbon industry to act to prevent a rebound of this very harmful gas for the climate.

The task for the oil and gas industry now is to ensure that there is no resurgence in methane emissions, even with the global economic recovery, and that 2019 remains as their historic peak

,” said the Executive Director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), Fatih Birol.

Read also: Climate: global methane emissions reach a record level

This gas has a much greater warming effect on the climate than CO2.

Besides agriculture, much of its emissions come from leaks from the oil and gas industry.

However, the methane problem "

unfortunately does not attract enough attention

", regretted Mr. Birol during a press conference.

Methane emissions from the oil and gas sector fell by 10% last year but this is due to the drop in production in the face of the Covid-19 crisis more than the fight against leaks, underlines IEA.

These emissions could rebound strongly without stronger action from companies, policy makers and regulators,

” she warns in a report on the subject, while oil production is expected to rebound this year with the economic recovery and the arrival of vaccines .

"

There is no good reason to allow these harmful leaks to continue and there are all good reasons for the operators responsible to ensure that they are resolved,

" insisted Fatih Birol.

The IEA emphasizes that operators also have an economic interest in taking action, by upgrading the gas rather than letting it escape, not to mention the risks to their reputation.

Fatih Birol noted that this problem also posed a pure “

commercial

risk

for hydrocarbon producers, faced with customers and investors increasingly concerned about the environmental impact of the sector.

Companies seem to be aware of the problem: methane figures prominently on the menu of the Oil and gas climate initiative (OGCI), an alliance that brings together many giants in the sector to improve their climate balance sheet.

Politicians must act, advises IEA

The IEA, which advises developed countries on their energy policies, not only urges companies to act but also politicians.

"

Government policies also have an important role: to encourage companies to act quickly, to push for transparency and improvements in performance, and by supporting innovation to achieve results,

" said Birol.

The IEA thus publishes a

regulatory

roadmap

” to help countries act, as well as data.

The “

lack of reliable data

” has long been a problem, Fatih Birol admitted.

In an article published in February 2020 in the journal Nature, scientists estimated that human methane emissions had so far been largely underestimated, by 25 to 40%.

Figures from the IEA show that the oil and gas industry emitted 72 million tonnes of methane last year, the equivalent of the energy-related CO2 emissions of the entire European Union.

The world's leading emitters are Russia (nearly 14 million tonnes) followed by the United States (11.8 million).

Read also: 2020, the year when the price of oil turned negative

The IEA has urged governments to take up the issue ahead of COP26 in Glasgow in November.

Fatih Birol welcomed the fact that many governments are adopting CO2 reduction targets in their carbon neutrality objectives but would like them to now also include targets for methane.

Source: lefigaro

All business articles on 2021-01-18

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