Sustainability > Methane Emissions+

Methane (CH4) is the main component of natural gas. The gas installations emit methane for different reasons and several actions have been taken by the industry, for decades, to reduce its emissions, mainly for safety reasons. In light of environmental concerns, the gas industry is developing mitigation procedures to further reduce methane emissions. CH4 is a Greenhouse Gas (GHG) that has an impact on the global climate changes. However, despite methane being a more potent GHG than carbon dioxide (CO2) and its impact being 28 times higher than CO2, CH4 has a shorter atmospheric lifespan, on average 8-12 years, whereas CO2 persists in the atmosphere for many centuries.

The gas industry is strongly committed to accelerate methane emissions reduction and to support the EU’s 2030 climate ambition as well as its 2050 climate neutrality objective.

MARCOGAZ is recognised as a technical reference by international organisations like the European Commission, United Nations, OGMP 2.0, Methane Guiding Principles, among others, and actively contributes to identify and categorise all types of CH4 emissions.

MARCOGAZ developed a “bottom-up” (source specific) methodology to quantify the CH4 emissions. This methodology is currently being translated by the CEN/TC234/WG14 into a CEN Technical Specification. Following the methodology, the industry must report reliable figures to the authorities. MARCOGAZ actively contributes to the implementation of well structured, fit for purpose measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) system in the EU.

The industry works towards the identification and implementation of best practices to reduce the methane emissions, including the definition of reduction targets at industry level. The reconciliation of the “bottom-up” and the “top-down” approaches for detection and quantification of CH4 emissions are proposed by the industry to further enhance early detection.

MARCOGAZ is fostering innovation and monitoring the technological solutions to detect, quantify, report and mitigate CH4 emissions due to the Transmission, Storage, LNG and Distribution activities.

Chair

Ronald Kenter