Dear reader,
the world is puzzling, speculating, debating who is behind the sabotage of the Norstream pipelines.
However, one immediate consequence of the leak is already certain: the impact on the climate.
The amount of natural gas contained in the three damaged tubes is estimated at around 328,000 tons, which could potentially get into the environment, said Gregor Rehder from the Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde (IOW) in an interview with SPIEGEL.
Natural gas mainly consists of the harmful greenhouse gas methane.
But what does that mean specifically?
All the methane in the tubes was once intended for incineration – one could argue that it was promoted anyway, so there was no additional damage to the climate.
However, it is not CO2 that has escaped into the atmosphere, as is the case with gas combustion, but the unused methane.
Depending on the period of time, the climate damage caused by the gas is significantly greater: over 20 years, it is 84 times as strong as carbon dioxide, over 100 years it is still 28 times.
For a better classification, the amount of methane can be converted back into CO2 equivalents - the Federal Environment Agency calculates emissions of around 7.5 million tons of CO₂ equivalents.
This corresponds to about one percent of Germany's total annual emissions.
For comparison: In 2018, before the start of the corona crisis, domestic air traffic was responsible for two million tons of CO2 equivalents annually.
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The topics of the week
Attacks on Baltic Sea pipelines: Operation Seebeben
After the act of sabotage on the Nord Stream pipelines, the search for the perpetrators is on: Which state has a motive?
And how safe is Europe's critical infrastructure on the seabed?
The SPIEGEL cover story.
Leaks in Nord Stream 1 and 2: "That's a considerable amount of greenhouse gas" Massive amounts
of natural gas have escaped as a result of damage to three Nord Stream pipes.
What happens in such incidents above and below water, what do they also mean for the environment - and for the climate?
Holes in gas pipelines: data analysis shows huge methane cloud over Nord Stream leaks
Hundreds of thousands of tons of methane are likely to have leaked into the atmosphere from the leaks in the Nord Stream 1 and 2 Baltic Sea pipelines.
Experts have now traced the path of the gas cloud.
Suspected sabotage of Nord Stream pipes: so much gas is still escaping – and it would be so difficult to repair
Three out of four pipes of the Nord Stream pipelines are damaged.
What is the extent of the leaks?
How much gas were the tubes filled with?
And how long will it keep flowing?
The most important questions and answers.
Missing climate protection program: the traffic light failure
The federal government is letting the next deadline for climate protection pass.
The FDP blocked - especially in the car.
And the Greens have other worries right now.
But politicians are not solely to blame.
Environmental policy of the neo-fascists in Italy: »The Fratelli d'Italia program is closer to the NPD than to the AfD«
What can be expected of the new right-wing government in Italy in terms of environmental and climate policy?
The historian Nils Franke explains where the blood and soil ideology was hidden in the election program.
stay confident
Yours, Kurt Stukenberg