GREEN EYE
Gas cop-out
METHANE leaks were again on the agenda at Cop30 in Belém, Brazil,
Old Sparky writes
, yet prospects for practical action on one of the more easily addressed drivers of climate change is being stymied not just by the usual suspects but, shamefully, the US.
Methane (aka natural gas) is a common and potent greenhouse gas. Curbing industrial methane leaks (as supposed to livestock flatulence) from badly managed oil, gas and coal facilities is relatively straightforward. Unlike CO2-reducing measures, it involves no largescale disruption. Well-established engineering and industrial best practices, such as retrofitting valves and gas-driven pneumatic controllers and pumps with lower-emitting versions, are already in use and may pay for themselves: natural gas is a valuable fuel, needed for decades to come, and leakage is wasteful as well as polluting.