Page 6 - AfrElec Week 03 2021

AfrElec COMMENTARY AfrElec

IEA calls for urgent action to

cut methane emissions

The IEA has called on companies, governments and regulators to reduce
methane emissions from the oil and gas sector, writes Richard Lockhart

GLOBAL METHANE emissions from the global oil and As such, there is clearly a risk that this down-
gas industry fell by an estimated 10% in 2020 as ward trend will be reversed by an increase in
WHAT: producers slashed output in response to the his- production to fuel a rebound in global economic
Global methane toric shock of the coronavirus (COVID-19) cri- activity.
emissions fell by 10% sis, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said.
in 2020 However, the IEA warned that these emis- No resurgence
sions could rebound strongly without greater “The immediate task now for the oil and gas
WHY: action by companies, policy makers and industry is to make sure that there is no resur-
Oil and gas producers regulators. gence in methane emissions, even as the world
slashed output as Methane is a much more potent greenhouse economy recovers, and that 2019 becomes their
demand fell because of gas (GHG) than the more widely known carbon historical peak. There is no good reason to allow
the pandemic dioxide (CO2) and makes a major contribution these harmful leaks to continue, and there is
to global warming. every reason for responsible operators to ensure
WHAT NEXT: The IEA said this week in its 2021 update of that they are addressed,” said Dr Fatih Birol, the
With methane production its Methane Tracker that oil and gas operations IEA Executive Director.
set to rise after the worldwide emitted more than 70mn tonnes of “Alongside ambitious efforts to decarbonise
pandemic, regulators methane into the atmosphere in 2020. our economies, early action on methane emis-
and government must This is broadly equivalent to the total ener- sions will be critical for avoiding the worst effects
strengthen their efforts to gy-related CO2 emissions from the entire Euro- of climate change. There has never been a greater
reduce emissions pean Union. sense of urgency about this issue than there is
The new IEA analysis indicates that a large today, said Dr Birol.
part of the drop in methane emissions in 2020 “To help accelerate these efforts, the IEA is
occurred not because companies were taking today releasing a ‘how-to’ guide that govern-
more care to avoid methane leaks from their ments and regulators can use to bring down
operations, but simply because they were pro- methane emissions from oil and gas operations.”
ducing less oil and gas. The IEA’s analysis highlighted that reducing

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