Global crude and gas producers emit roughly the same amount of methane leaked by the Russian pipelines every 1.5 days.
(Bloomberg) — Planet-warming methane that’s bubbled up from the ruptured Nord Stream gas pipelines at the bottom of the Baltic Sea into the atmosphere is a climate disaster. But it’s one that’s repeated across the globe roughly every 1.5 days. The oil and gas industry emits an estimated 80 million metric tons of methane each year during production, processing and transport of the fuels, according to the International Energy Agency’s Methane Tracker. That works out to about 220,000 tons each day — slightly less than the 300,000 tons the German government estimated last week would enter the atmosphere from the ruptured pipes.
“As massive as the Nord Stream methane release may be — and it does seem to set a new record — these emissions are dwarfed by what the oil and gas industry routinely releases,’’ said Antoine Halff, co-founder and chief analyst at Kayrros SAS, a geoanalytics company.
For decades leaks and intentional releases of the odorless and invisible gas from pipelines, wellheads and processing facilities escaped public scrutiny. Now, a new wave of satellites that use infrared cameras to track the releases are exposing fossil fuel operators who still routinely vent methane directly into the atmosphere despite approaches that can limit those emissions by as much as 90%.
To assess the impact of methane on the climate, scientists typically convert the gas into CO2 equivalent using short-term and long-term multipliers. Because methane degrades quickly after its first couple of decades in the atmosphere its impact is front-loaded, and curbing emissions of the gas is one of the cheapest and easiest ways to curb global warming.
Converting the German government estimate shows the leaked gas will have the same warming impact as roughly 25.2 million tons of CO2 over the next two decades. Even though that impact may be short-lived, it can still trigger irreparable damage through higher temperatures that contribute to melting icecaps and glaciers and warmer seas, which disrupt key water cycles.Two of the three releases occurred in Denmark’s exclusive economic zone and authorities there said the emissions would be equal to about 32% of the country’s annual greenhouse gas discharges. Danish authorities said on Sunday that the Nord Stream 1 pipeline was no longer leaking, a day after officials said the release on Nord Stream 2 had also stopped. Russia’s Gazprom, which supplies the gas, confirmed in a statement Monday that the leaks had ended. Here are some activities whose emissions are roughly similar or otherwise comparable to the Nord Stream leaks. The calculations don’t take into account CO2 emissions from the gas had it been combusted to generate heat or power.
EVs
Electric vehicles are set to avert about 63.3 million tons of CO2 emissions this year, according to the International Energy Agency’s Global EV Outlook published last year. One way to think about the short-term climate impact of the Nord Stream leaks is that they effectively wipe out 40% of those gains.
Crypto
Bitcoin mining generates in excess of 70 million tons of CO2 per year, according to Digiconimist, a website that calculates the energy consumed from mining crypto. The amount of the digital currency that could have been generated with electricity produced from 25.2 million tons of CO2 is approximately 117,000 coins, according to Alex de Vries, founder of the website and a researcher at Vrije University of Amsterdam.
Hail Creek Coal Mine
Glencore Plc’s Hail Creek coal mine spewed between 123,000 and 263,000 tons of methane last year based on concentrations of the super-potent greenhouse gas detected by satellite, according to researchers with SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research, who analyzed satellite data. The short term impact of those emissions equate to between 10.3 million and 22 million tons of CO2.
Beef
About 480 million tons of beef would produce the same climate footprint as the Nord Stream leaks, according to a calculation from the non-profit Environmental Defense Fund. That’s enough meat to supply Israel for one year.
Coal Plants
Six coal-fired power plants operating for a year would generate roughly the same amount of planet warming pollution as the Nord Stream emissions, according to the EDF calculator.
Internal Combustion Engine Cars
The climate impact from the Nord Stream leaks is equivalent to the annual emissions from 5.2 million US cars, according to a calculation by Bloomberg based on Environmental Protection Agency figures about vehicle efficiency.
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