Planet-heating emissions from oil and gas production could be three times
higher than reported, according to a satellite monitoring project launched
Wednesday that the
UN chief said made it harder to "cheat".
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The new tool -- unveiled at United Nations COP27 climate talks in Egypt --
has pinpointed more than 70,000 sites spewing emissions into the atmosphere.
The project, run by a group of research institutions, charities and
companies, monitors sites including heavy industry, energy production,
agriculture, transport, waste and mining.
Using artificial intelligence to analyse data from more than 300 satellites,
as well as thousands of sensors on land and in the sea, the Climate TRACE
monitor found that the top 14 largest emitters are all oil and gas extraction
sites.
Of those, the biggest emitter on the planet is the Permian Basin in Texas --
one of the largest oilfields in the world -- said former US vice president Al
Gore, a project founder.
"With new data on methane and flaring, we now estimate that the actual
emissions are three times higher than what they have reported," Gore said.
Flaring is the burning off of unwanted natural gas from oil and gas wells.
Methane, emitted by leaks from fossil fuel installations as well as from
other human-caused sources like livestock and landfills, is responsible for
roughly 30 percent of the global rise in temperatures to date.
Dozens of countries last year pledged to act to cut pollution from the
potent greenhouse gas.
- 'Wake-up call' -
United Nations chief Antonio Guterres praised the initiative for shining a
light on actual emissions using direct observations.
"You are making it more difficult to greenwash or -- to be more clear
-- to cheat," he said.
"This should be a wake-up call to governments and the financial sector,
especially those that continue to invest in and underwrite fossil fuel
pollution," he said.
Climate TRACE first determined what industrial activity was at a given site
and therefore what type of emissions to look for, said Gavin McCormick, another
co-founder and director of the US environmental technology nonprofit WattTime.
Every time a satellite passes over, they can then interpret "what are
we seeing".
Gore, a Nobel Peace Prize winner for his climate advocacy, said the top 500
sources identified emit more per year than the United States -- and half of the
pollution is from power plants.
All the data from the project is available free online at climatetrace.org
to increase "transparency, collaboration and accountability for climate
action", Gore added.
The International Energy Agency has decried the enormous amount of methane
that leaks from fossil fuel operations, estimating the amount lost last year
globally was broadly similar to all the gas used in Europe's power sector.
In October, NASA said a methane plume about two miles (3.3 kilometres) long
was detected southeast of Carlsbad, New Mexico, in the Permian Basin.
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