Countries create group to measure emission of gases that cause global warming

A group of countries, including Brazil, have come together to advance efforts to measure greenhouse gas emissions throughout the natural gas supply chain in order to reduce the global output of pollution responsible for climate change, the report said. US Department of Energy this Wednesday (15).

The working group aims to advance efforts to measure, monitor, document and verify emissions of methane, carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Countries seek to do this across the entire natural gas supply chain, including production, processing, transportation, liquefaction and distribution of the fuel.

The group’s participants are: Australia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, the countries of the Eastern Mediterranean Gas Forum, the European Commission, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mozambique, Norway, South Korea, the United Kingdom and the USA.

Brad Crabtree, assistant secretary for fossil energy and carbon management at the U.S. Department of Energy, said there is a need to provide comparable and reliable information on emissions from gas producers and exporters to global markets.

“It’s really critical that we develop, at a global level, a framework that is agreed and supported by both importing and exporting countries, both on the government side and through investment and support from industry and other stakeholders,” Crabtree told Reuters.

The U.S. was the world’s biggest exporter of gas in the form of the super-cooled fuel called liquefied natural gas, or LNG, in the first half of this year.

Some gas drillers are working to reduce the climate impact of gas, including marketing so-called certified gas, which they say aims to reduce emissions through actions such as plugging leaks or purchasing carbon offsets.

Certified gas is generally sold at a higher price. Some environmentalists have criticized the efforts as attempts to sell a fossil fuel as sustainable.

This group’s agreement comes as the European Commission has proposed imposing methane emissions limits on EU gas imports from 2030, a move that would put pressure on the bloc’s international fossil fuel suppliers, including the US, to reduce leaks of the powerful gas that heats the planet.

Crabtree said the United States welcomes efforts by LNG-importing countries to establish methane regulations as a useful signal to the market.

He said there would be talks next year on how the group’s developing countries could measure their gas emissions. “We recognize that not all countries are in the same place” in their ability to measure and verify.