Emitters

Imperial College London researcher Paul Balcombe has confirmed from a review of more than 250 global emissions studies that reducing methane emissions globally is a key to mitigating climate change impacts. However, measurements of the extent of the problem vary widely and are not always very accurate. “The range of emissions is extremely large across the natural gas supply chain, everywhere from identifying and drilling the well, processing the gas to delivery to the end-user,” Balcombe said. “While some emissions are extremely large, the vast majority of estimates are at the lowest end of the scale, suggesting that only a small number of ‘super emitters’ are skewing the distribution of emissions.” In the United States, methane research work over recent years spearheaded by the Environmental Defense Fund with various industry, government and university research partners has zeroed in on the so-called “super emitters” (see Daily GPI, July 9, 2015).