<
https://reneweconomy.com.au/australias-fossil-fuel-methane-emissions-are-nearly-twice-as-bad-as-industry-reports/>
"A massive discrepancy between the methane emissions reported by gas and coal
companies in Australia and the reality means that the country’s big emitters
will need to double their rates of emission cuts by 2030, says a new report
from the research group IEEFA.
Australian coal miners are underestimating their methane emissions by 81 per
cent and gas companies by 92 per cent, says the report
Gross under-reporting
of fugitive methane missions has big implications for industry.
“According to the IEA estimates, Australia is currently omitting 28 million
tonnes of CO2 equivalent (MtCO2e) of fugitive methane emissions from its
inventory, which is about 6 per cent of its total emissions,” says IEEFA
Australia CEO Amandine Denis-Ryan.
“It is critical to correct these underestimates as soon as possible, in
particular in the context of the declining cap set on Australia’s largest
industrial emitters as part of the Safeguard Mechanism.
“The under-reporting will have a very material impact on the Safeguard
Mechanism baseline declines. Based on our calculations, the baseline decline
rate would need to be doubled from 4.9 per cent to 9.8 per cent a year for
covered facilities.”
Although it has a shorter life in the atmosphere, methane is a far more
damaging greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. This is because it absorbs much
more energy than CO2 while it exists in the atmosphere – warming 82 times more
than CO2 over a 20-year period.
To date, in Australia, most companies have reported estimates of methane
emissions. But satellite data is proving those guesses to be fantastical
fictions."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
