Global emissions are on the rise as monthly average source emission rate increased threefold from January to December 2021, across all industries. The total methane emissions detected in 2021 was 143 Metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MTCO2e), as per observations by GHGSat satellites. The satellites surveyed more than 100,000 industrial sites spread over 47 countries in five continents.
GHGSat’s findings came recently, just ahead of the third report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on Monday, which sound yet another dire warning to businesses and global leaders on reducing emissions. The report — Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change — the third and final section of the IPCC’s latest comprehensive review of climate science, drawing on the work of thousands of scientists, notes that without a strengthening of policies beyond those that are implemented by the end of 2020, global GHG emissions are projected to rise beyond 2025, leading to a median global warming of 3.2 [2.2 to 3.5] degree Celsius by 2100.
GHGSat findings
The data shows that in terms of global distribution, 69 percent were seen in Asia, while 14 percent were found in North America. The majority of emissions came from carbon-intensive energy industries, and also from waste management.
The 2021 oil & gas emissions were alarming — 2.6 Mt of methane emissions measured in high-resolution emanated from oil & gas facilities. The Asia region emerged as the highest emitter, contributing 69 percent of the global total. Combined, the five highest measurements from oil and gas sites released CO2e emissions equivalent to burning 42.4 million barrels of oil.
Similarly, the 2021 coal mine emission trends were as bad – about 1.7 Mt emissions came from coal mines last year, including from the world’s top coal producing countries such as China, Australia, Russia, and India. About 47 percent of this came from just five mines in Asia. Four of these sites are in China and one is an openpit in Kazakhstan.
High resolution satellite data
It has been long believed that methane emissions from surface mines could not be accurately measured in high-resolution from Space, as the gas emits at low rates and disperses over a wide area. It was also thought unlikely that open cast mines could be major sources of greenhouse gases (GHGs), despite 40 percent of all mines — including 10 of the biggest – belonging to this category. Now, the observations by GHGSat satellites conclude that open pits may be a more important source of greenhouse gas emissions than currently understood.
Further, GHGSat also found that landfills and unregulated dumpsites were continuous sources of methane emissions after repeated observations at major sites across the world. About 66 percent of the sites monitored had at least two emissions detected on separate days in the same quarter period, while 15 percent of targeted sites had five or more methane emissions detected over the year.
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At least three quarters of these emissions were undetectable by public satellites, which scan wide areas at coarse resolution. GHGSat is currently the only organization operating high-resolution satellites designed to detect and measure facility-level emissions worldwide. Its sensors on small satellites that can detect methane emissions and locate individual sources of CH4 from around 500 km above the Earth’s surface. Source rates are estimates for each detected emission – the precise source for even much lower emissions — using algorithms, and actionable data in hours to operators. It currently has three satellites in orbit, and three more are set to be launched and be operational this year.
