Planet-heating emissions from oil and gas extraction could be three times higher than reported, according to a satellite monitoring project launched on Wednesday, which the UN chief said makes “cheating” more difficult.
The new tool, unveiled at the United Nations COP27 climate talks in Egypt, has identified more than 70,000 sites emitting emissions into the atmosphere.
The project, led by a group of research institutes, charities and companies, oversees locations such as heavy industry, power generation, agriculture, transport, waste and mining.
Using artificial intelligence to analyze data from more than 300 satellites and thousands of land and sea sensors, the Climate TRACE monitor found that the top 14 emitters are all oil and gas wells.
The biggest emitter on the planet is the Permian Basin in Texas — one of the world’s largest oil fields, said former US Vice President Al Gore, a project founder.
“With new methane and flaring data, we now estimate that actual emissions are three times higher than reported,” Gore said.
Flaring is the burning off of unwanted natural gas from oil and gas wells.
Methane emitted by leaks from fossil fuel plants, as well as other man-made sources such as livestock and landfills, is responsible for about 30 percent of global temperature rise to date.
Dozens of countries last year pledged to take action to reduce pollution from the potent greenhouse gas.
– ‘wake-up call’ –
United Nations chief Antonio Guterres praised the initiative for using direct observations to shed light on actual emissions.
“They make it harder to greenwash or – to put it more bluntly – cheat,” he said.
“This should be a wake-up call for governments and the financial sector, especially those who continue to invest in and insure against fossil fuel pollution,” he said.
Climate TRACE first determined what industrial activity was taking place at a given location and therefore what type of emissions to look for, said Gavin McCormick, another co-founder and director of US nonprofit environmental technology WattTime.
Every time a satellite flies by, they can then interpret “what we see”.
Gore, a Nobel Peace Prize winner for his advocacy on climate, said the top 500 identified sources emit more than the United States – and half of the pollution comes from power plants.
All data from the project is available online for free at climatetrace.org to increase “transparency, collaboration and accountability for climate action,” Gore added.
The International Energy Agency has denounced the massive amount of methane leaking from fossil fuel operations and estimated that the amount lost globally last year was broadly equivalent to all the gas used in Europe’s electricity sector .
In October, NASA said a methane plume about 3.3 kilometers long had been spotted southeast of Carlsbad, New Mexico, in the Permian Basin.
