General
News
Global Methane Emissions Reach A Record High.
According to the New York Times, “Global
emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, soared to a record high in 2017, the most recent year for which worldwide data are available, researchers said Tuesday. And they warned that the rise — driven by fossil fuel leaks and agriculture — would most
certainly continue despite the economic slowdown from the coronavirus crisis, which is bad news for efforts to limit global warming and its grave effects. The latest findings, published on Tuesday in two scientific journals, underscore how methane presents
a growing threat, even as the world finds some success in reining in carbon dioxide emissions, the most abundant greenhouse gas and the main cause of global warning. ‘There’s a hint that we might be able to reach peak carbon dioxide emissions very soon. But
we don’t appear to be even close to peak methane,’ said Rob Jackson, an earth scientist at Stanford University who heads the Global Carbon Project, which conducted the research. ‘It isn’t going down in agriculture, it isn’t going down with fossil fuel use.’
Scientists warn that if greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise on the current trajectory, the world has little hope of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, or even 2 degrees Celsius. If the world warms beyond that, tens of millions of people
could be exposed to life-threatening heat waves, freshwater shortages and coastal flooding from sea level rise. Methane, a colorless, odorless gas that is the main component of natural gas, is a powerful greenhouse gas that traps the sun’s heat, warming the
earth 86 times as much as the same mass of carbon dioxide over a 20-year period.” [New York Times,
7/14/20
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The Natural Gas Divide.
According to Grist, “In early June, the attorney general of Massachusetts, Maura Healey,
filed a petition with state utility regulators advising them to investigate the future of natural gas in the Commonwealth. Healey described the urgent need to figure out how the gas industry, which helps heat millions of homes throughout freezing Northeastern
winters, fits into the state’s plan to zero-out its greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 — especially considering the fuels burned for indoor heating and hot water are responsible for about a third of the state’s carbon footprint. Eliminating emissions from this
sector means venturing into uncharted waters. While many states are rapidly developing wind and solar farms to cut carbon from their electric grids, few are tackling the thornier challenge of reducing the gas burned in buildings. Officials in California and
New York, which both have binding economy-wide net-zero emissions laws, have recently come to the same conclusion as Healey: Meeting state climate goals is going to require changes to the way gas utilities are regulated. Earlier this year, both states opened
up precisely the kind of investigation that Healey is requesting in Massachusetts. Natural gas, a fossil fuel, has long been called a ‘bridge’ to a cleaner energy future because burning it has a much lower carbon footprint than burning coal or oil. But research
has called that narrative into question by showing that methane leaking across the natural gas supply chain raises its climate impact significantly. Recent developments have called the economics of natural gas into question, too: In early July, the developers
of the high-profile Atlantic Coast Pipeline decided to abandon the project after an onslaught of lawsuits made the pipeline too expensive to build.” [Grist,
7/14/20
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Soaring Methane Emissions Threaten To Put Climate Change Goals Out Of Reach.
According to NBC News, “Earth’s climate crisis is starting to look even worse than scientists
had feared — in part because of just how much meat we eat and how we get around. Global emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, have soared over the past decade, according to two new studies that tracked growing sources of the odorless, colorless gas.
The increased methane, combined with carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, could warm Earth’s atmosphere by 3 to 4 degrees Celsius before the end of this century — significantly above the levels that scientists have warned could be catastrophic for millions
of people around the world. ‘This completely overshoots our budget to stay below 1.5 to 2 degrees of warming,’ said Benjamin Poulter, a research scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Poulter is an author on both studies published
Tuesday, one in the journal Earth System Science Data and the other in the journal Environmental Research Letters. Poulter and his colleagues found that since 2000, the biggest increases in methane emissions came from agricultural activities — particularly
from livestock, such as cattle and sheep — and the fossil fuel industry, which includes coal mining as well as oil and gas production. Human activities account for about 60 percent of global methane emissions, according to the researchers. Agriculture makes
up roughly two-thirds of that, with fossil fuel production and use contributing most of the rest. In the new studies, researchers analyzed methane emissions from 2000 through 2017 — the latest year for which complete global methane figures are available —
and found that a record 600 million tons of methane were released into the atmosphere in 2017.” [NBC News,
7/14/20
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Burger King Wants To Combat Climate Change By Helping Its Cows Be A Little Less Gassy.
According to the Washington Post, “The name doesn’t exactly roll off your tongue. It
doesn’t do much to stimulate your appetite, either. But if Burger King’s latest menu innovation, the Whopper with Reduced Methane Emissions Beef, proves successful, the sandwich could become the next weapon to fight climate change. But let’s not get ahead
ourselves: Burger King is just now testing the market with its Cows Menu, which debuted Tuesday at five restaurants, one each in Miami, Austin, Los Angeles, New York and Portland, Ore. The menu features a handful of burgers that will swap out their traditional
patty for one made with Reduced Methane Emissions Beef, a product that the chain developed with the help of two groups of scientists. Methane is a greenhouse gas emitted by ruminant animals, such as cows, and scientists say it warms the planet 86 times more
than carbon dioxide over a period of 10 to 20 years. How do cattle produce methane? Well, the gas is a natural byproduct of an enzyme that breaks down food in a cow’s digestive system, and it is released primarily through burping, though a very small amount
is also produced by flatulence. According to a report from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, livestock as a whole accounts for 14.5 percent of all human-induced greenhouse gas emissions, while beef and milk production alone represents
about 9 percent.” [Washington Post, 7/14/20
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Methane Rises To Highest Level On Record.
According to The Guardian, “Animal farming and fossil fuels have driven global emissions
of the potent greenhouse gas methane to the highest level on record, putting the world on track for dangerously increased heat levels of 3C to 4C. Since 2000 discharges of the odourless, colourless gas have risen by more than 50m tonnes a year, equivalent
to 350m cars or double the total emissions of Germany or France, according to the latest Methane Budget study by a global team of scientists. The findings, published in Earth System Science Data and Environmental Research Letters, show that more than half
of the methane in the atmosphere now comes from human sources. Of this share, ranching, agriculture and landfills account for about two-thirds, while the fossil fuel industry, composed of oil, gas and coal, makes up the rest. Methane is second only to carbon
dioxide in its contribution to global heating; the gas is released in much smaller quantities but is 28 times more powerful at trapping warmth over a 100-year span. In 2017, the most recent year for which data is available, the planet’s atmosphere absorbed
almost 600m tonnes of methane, up 9% from the early years of the century when concentrations were relatively stable. Rob Jackson, a professor at the Stanford University School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences, in California, chairs the Global Carbon
Project and led one of the papers. He said human activities since the industrial revolution had increased the amount of methane in the atmosphere by 2.6 times, compared with 1.7 times for carbon dioxide.” [The Guardian,
7/14/20
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Burger King Introduces 'Reduced Methane Emissions' Whopper As It Changes Cows' Diets Amid
Climate Change. According to TIME, “Burger King is staging an intervention with its
cows. The chain has rebalanced the diet of some of the cows by adding lemon grass in a bid to limit bovine contributions to climate change. By tweaking their diet, Burger King said Tuesday that it believes it can reduce a cow’s daily methane emissions by about
33%. Cows emit methane as a by-product of their digestion, and that has become a potential public relations hurdle for major burger chains. Greenhouse gas emissions from the agriculture sector made up 9.9% of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in 2018, according
to the Environmental Protection Agency. Of that amount, methane emissions from livestock (called enteric fermentation) comprised more than a quarter of the emissions from the agriculture sector. With an over-the-top social media campaign that teeters between
vulgarity and science (sprinkled with more vulgarity), Burger King is banking on the heightened awareness of climate change and its responsibility to limit its own role. According to a recent poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research,
about two out of three Americans say corporations have a responsibility to combat climate change. The gravitational pull of climate change is increasingly finding its way onto national political stage. Potential customers are also cutting down on the amount
of meat they consume, citing both environmental and dietary concerns. Burger King and rival McDonald’s have added meat alternatives to their menus.” [TIME,
7/14/20
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'Death By A Thousand Cuts.' Methane On The Rise Globally.
According to E&E News, “Global methane emissions jumped 9% between the early 2000s and
2017, putting the world on track to warm by 3 to 4 degrees Celsius by century’s end, according to research published yesterday. The analysis by the Global Carbon Project, conducted by 91 scientists at 69 research organizations around the world, found that
methane from human activity rose in all parts of the world except Europe over that time period. Methane accounts for 16% of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to EPA, the second most of any gas. But it has received less attention from scientists and
policymakers than carbon dioxide, the leading source. ‘We are not seeing any evidence of mitigation policy,’ said Marielle Saunois, a co-author of the analysis who studies methane emissions at Université de Versailles Saint Quentin. ‘There is the feeling that
CO2 is the biggest source and that we should fight the biggest first, and then we tend to forget the second.’ Methane is a far more potent greenhouse gas than CO2 in the near term. It traps heat at 86 times the level of CO2 over a 20-year time period, and
28 times over a 100-year time frame. The group’s findings were outlined in two papers published in Earth System Science Data and Environmental Research Letters. Nearly all of the growth in methane emissions has come from human activities like farming, the
production of fossil fuels and waste. But differentiating whether the gas comes from human or natural sources can be tricky. Nature accounts for about 40% of methane in the atmosphere.” [E&E News,
7/15/20
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Cow Burps, Leaky Pipelines Put Earth On High-End Warming Track.
According to Bloomberg, “Global emissions of methane, a greenhouse gas multiple times
more potent than CO2, rose by 9% in the decade through 2017, putting Earth on a track to warm by more than 3 degrees Celsius by the end of the century, according to an international study scheduled to be released Wednesday. Atmospheric levels of the gas --
emitted by digesting cows, leaky gas pipelines and natural sources such as wetlands -- have increased 2 1/2 times from pre-industrial levels, researcher Marielle Saunois said in a press briefing in Paris. Human activity accounts for about 60% of methane emissions,
led by growing herds of livestock and emissions linked to oil and gas production. Methane’s warming potential over a century is 28 times that of an equivalent mass of CO2, the researchers said. The current path of methane emissions lies between the two warmest
scenarios used in projections by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, implying large cuts are needed to meet Paris Agreement targets. Warming by 3 degrees would be double the rate scientists have identified as needed to constrain the worst impacts
of climate change. ‘We’re on track for a scenario that is rather hot, and above 3 to 4 degrees,’ Saunois said in her presentation of the study. ‘Emissions are rising, particularly in tropical zones.’ After stabilizing in the late 1990s and early 2000s, methane
emissions have been rising since 2007, accelerating since 2014, according to the study. Average annual emissions of methane rose to an estimated 596 million tons in the period through 2017, from 546 million tons in the 2000-2006 period.” [Bloomberg,
7/14/20
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Protesters: Caribou Heart Meant To Send Message On Drilling.
According to E&E News, “The man who owned a caribou heart that protesters said they wanted
to give Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) during a disrupted campaign event said Sullivan reminded him of the robotic Tin Man from ‘The Wizard of Oz,’ and he wanted to give him a heart. Samuel Johns said his intended message was tied to Sullivan’s support for opening
a portion of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for drilling. The refuge provides grounds for the Porcupine Caribou herd, which is significant to the Indigenous Gwich’in. ‘I thought, maybe I should give him a heart as a symbolic message that the caribou heart
is what has kept my people alive for thousands of years,’ Johns said yesterday. Sullivan’s campaign defended the senator’s record. State officials have long pushed for opening part of the refuge for oil and gas drilling, including all three current Republican
members of Alaska’s congressional delegation. Johns said he was not at Saturday’s event in Anchorage, in which a protester stepped onstage next to Sullivan and his wife and attempted to pull the heart from a bag (Greenwire, July 13). Video posted by the Alaska
Landmine blog shows another woman run into Sullivan’s campaign manager, Matt Shuckerow, as he moved toward the protester on stage. That woman was knocked down. A statement from the protesters released to the Anchorage Daily News said the woman was trying to
get between them. Shuckerow said the actions taken by protesters at the event, at an airport hangar in Anchorage, were dangerous and unsafe. Protesters said unnecessary force was used in responding to their actions.” [E&E News,
7/14/20
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Bankrupt Fracking Companies Are Harming The Climate And Taxpayers.
According to EcoWatch, “Fracking companies are going bankrupt at a rapid pace, often
with taxpayer-funded bonuses for executives, leaving harm for communities, taxpayers, and workers, the New York Time reports. Nearly 250 U.S. oil and gas companies are expected to file for bankruptcy by the end of next year — more than went under in the last
five years combined — as demand craters due to the pandemic, a global price war, and falling renewable energy prices. These failing companies often neglect well maintenance and plugged well repairs to save money, causing tons of ultra-heat-trapping methane
to continue gushing into the atmosphere. Shale wells typically cost $300,000 to close — far more than the estimates used by companies, regulators and financial analysts — and an analysis prepared for the Times found companies have failed to reserve sufficient
funds, as required by law, to remediate their well sites, leaving taxpayers to foot the cleanup bill. As a result, early estimates show substantial increases in methane concentrations over Texas and New Mexico oil fields in March and April 2020 compared to
the previous year. The Trump administration is seeking to effectively eliminate methane leak detection and repair requirements. One drilling site, abandoned by Extraction Oil & Gas in Greeley, Colorado, is situated just 700 feet from an elementary school serving
the community’s fast-growing immigrant population where air pollution monitors recorded 100 periods of elevated levels of toxic benzene over the course of seven months last year. Those wells were originally planned to lie closer to a more affluent, majority
white charter school, but were moved after an outcry from that school’s parents.” [EcoWatch,
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Natural Gas Group Touts Efficiency To Cut Emissions. According to the Washington Examiner,
“Natural gas utilities’ investments in energy efficiency programs are critical to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, as well as helping low-income households with energy costs, the American Gas Association said in a new report Tuesday. Natural gas utilities
invested $3.8 million per day in energy efficiency in 2018, avoiding 2.25 million metric tons of carbon emissions, according to the report. Between 2012 and 2018, natural gas utilities’ efficiency investments avoided 13.5 million metric tons of emissions.
‘As we look to solutions to address climate change going forward, it’s pretty clear that energy efficiency is going to be a big part of our climate change solution,’ Karen Harbert, AGA’s CEO, told reporters Tuesday. She added energy efficiency is part of the
trade group’s climate change position statement.” [Washington Examiner,
7/14/20 (=)]
Chad Ellwood
Senior Research Associate
Climate Action Campaign
202.448.2877 ext. 119