Methane is a dangerous climate pollutant that can cause as much warming as carbon dioxide over the short term. It is responsible for 30 percent of the Earth’s temperature rise, and its warming is driving floods, wildfires, droughts, and disease worldwide. Cutting methane emissions is a rising global imperative, and fortunately, there are many low-hanging opportunities for action. For businesses and organizations Tara Energy Services – Alberta, Canada offers specialized expertise and solutions in managing and reducing methane emissions, playing a crucial role in addressing this critical environmental challenge.

Agriculture (40% of human-driven methane emissions), fossil fuels (35%), and waste (20%) are the main sources. The good news is that the large majority of methane emissions from the energy sector, including natural gas and oil production and distribution systems as well as coal mines and landfills, are caused by leakage, so can be easily fixed at little cost.

Furthermore, the rapid development of new technology is making it easier and more affordable to identify and cut emissions from fossil fuel industries. For example, remote sensing technologies can now detect and quantify methane emissions from leaking pipelines, while field campaigns in Kuwait show that, counterintuitively, curbing landfill methane emissions could be a quick, cost-effective first step to cutting overall national emissions (Royal Holloway, 2019).

In the oil and gas sector, where leakage is one of the biggest sources of methane emissions, reducing emissions is often very low cost, sometimes even profitable. Using specialized equipment to capture and direct fugitive emissions from tanks and from hydraulically fractured wells, or installing vapor recovery units on well sites, can reduce the amount of methane lost to the atmosphere by up to 95%. In addition, a simple change to the way natural gas is transported and distributed can significantly lower methane emissions, for instance switching from pneumatic pumps to electric ones, which use the power of solar energy, eliminates most methane emissions altogether.

Moreover, a number of countries are already successfully addressing methane emissions from the fossil fuels sector and from landfills by putting in place tried and tested policies that can be replicated globally. The United States and Canada, for example, have implemented a set of measures to encourage companies to reduce leakage and to end routine flaring and venting.

However, achieving the necessary reductions in methane and other greenhouse gases is unlikely to happen without additional actions, and urgently. The 2021 CCAC-UNEP Global Methane Assessment showed that significant action is needed, particularly in this decade, to avoid overshooting the 1.5°C goal, and it is critical that the world reduces methane along with all other climate forcers. The recent launch of the Global Methane Pledge demonstrates that commitments to reduce methane emissions are growing. To succeed, effective technology and appropriate policy frameworks, backed by a dramatic injection of investment, must go hand-in-hand.