New satellite launched to expose large polluters of methane

A satellite designed to track and measure methane emissions from leaking oil and gas production sites, in a bid to identify large emitters of methane and help bolster efforts to fight climate change, was successfully launched March 4.

MethaneSAT will circle the earth 15 times a day, measuring changes in methane concentrations as small as three parts per billion, non-profit advocacy group Environmental Defense Fund, which developed the program, said in a statement.

"MethaneSAT's superpower is the ability to precisely measure methane levels with high resolution over wide areas, including smaller, diffuse sources that account for most emissions in many regions," said Steven Hamburg, EDF's chief scientist and MethaneSAT project leader. "Knowing how much methane is coming from where and how the rates are changing is essential."

Methane is a much more powerful climate pollutant than carbon dioxide, with estimates suggesting it is more than 80 times more potent than CO2 over a 20-year time frame.

The energy sector -- including oil, natural gas, coal and bioenergy -- accounts for nearly 40% of methane emissions from human activity.

The satellite was developed by a consortium of universities and companies such as Bezos Earth Fund, Arnold Ventures, New Zealand Space Agency, Harvard University, BAE Systems and IO Aerospace.

The data from MethaneSAT will help both companies and regulators to track emissions, and "give stakeholders -- citizens, governments, investors, and gas importers -- free, near-real time access to the data, and the unprecedented ability to compare the results against emission goals and obligations," EDF said in a statement.

The interactive emissions data will be made available on MethaneSAT's website and on geospatial platform Google Earth Engine.

Methane pledges

This initiative comes a few months after several oil and natural gas producers pledged to reduce their carbon emissions to net zero by 2050 and curb methane emissions to near zero by 2030.

Under the agreement, signed at the 28th UN Climate Change Conference in Dubai, 50 companies committed to setting interim targets that would reduce methane emissions to 0.2% of oil and natural gas production by 2030, and to end routine flaring.

What makes this pledge distinctive is that it will be scrutinized using technology and data, with MethaneSAT providing key data.

The United Nations Environment Program's International Methane Emissions Observatory (IMEO), the Environmental Defense Fund, Bloomberg Philanthropies and the International Energy Agency will help monitor compliance by tracking methane emissions using satellite data, and other analytical tools.

The agreement is part of a Global Decarbonization Accelerator launched at COP28, focused on three pillars: energy systems of the future such as renewables and hydrogen; the fossil fuel sector and emission-intensive industries; and methane.

Methane intensity

Methane emissions generated by production are a significant contributor to the carbon intensity of natural gas.

Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, assesses methane performance certificates traded in the spot market that represent low methane emissions in natural gas production in the US and Canada.

Each MPC represents 1 MMBtu of gas with zero methane emissions produced. Platts reflects MPCs that have been issued against production that has a methane intensity of less than 0.10%.

Prices have recovered to $0.024/MPC on March 5 after having fallen to just $0.008/MPC in mid-August, with very little demand for the certificates at present, S&P Global data showed.