Energy Exchange

Throwing Down the Gauntlet: The European Challenge to IMO on Carbon Pricing

By EDF Blogs / Published: December 8, 2022

The International Maritime Organization knows that the shipping industry needs to change course to address the climate crisis. By committing to the Initial Greenhouse Gas Strategy in 2018, which requires the shipping industry to reduce emissions by 50% by 2050, it formally recognized this. Such a declaration, despite being forged through difficult negotiations and missing the level of ambitions of many member states and NGOs, was broadly welcomed. Since then, there have been several agreements on the short-term measures. These measures have attracted their own share of criticism for lack of ambition or through lack of effective enforcement or implementation mechanisms. The EU countries have been an engaged and active part of this process, but that has not stopped them from considering action under their regional banner, in particular the recent inclusion of shipping within their Emissions Trading System.

Also posted in Europe / Comments are closed

S&P Global Analysis Says Industry’s Wasted Gas Could Bring Quick Relief to Energy Market

By Matt Watson / Published: December 7, 2022

Russia’s war on Ukraine has sent painful shockwaves through global gas markets — not only in Europe but across Asia and in developing economies that can least afford it. The crisis is accelerating efforts to transition to cleaner, safer, more reliable energy, while setting off a scramble for new gas supplies to backfill what once came from Russia. How to meet that near-term need without a massive new infrastructure buildout that would undermine climate goals and risk stranding billions in capital? One key solution – identified by EDF, the International Energy Agency and others — lies in the vast amounts of gas currently wasted by the oil and gas industry through flaring, leaks and other emissions.

Also posted in Flaring, Methane, Methane regulatons / Comments are closed

How Japan and other energy importers can spur global methane action

By Mina Berkow / Published: December 4, 2022

Negishi LNG Terminal, Yokohama City, Kanagawa Pref., Japan

Announced at COP 27, the joint declaration by key natural gas exporters, the United States, Norway and Canada, and importers, the European Union, Japan and Singapore, demonstrates the growing recognition that the supply and demand sides of energy markets must work together to reduce global methane emissions.

Methane, the main ingredient of natural gas, is a powerful climate pollutant, and the oil and gas industry is a main source of global emissions. As methane has shot up the international climate agenda, a great deal of attention has focused on countries that produce the lion’s share of the world’s oil and gas. But big energy importers like Japan, which often don’t have significant domestic fossil fuel resources, also have significant opportunities to stimulate and speed emission reductions industrywide.

A new analysis conducted for Environmental Defense Fund by independent global research firm Rystad Energy explores how Japan can leverage its unique market position to drive global methane reductions.

Posted in General / Comments are closed

New maps unveil scale of U.S. orphan well challenge, highlight solutions at hand

By Adam Peltz / Published: December 2, 2022

Last year, for the first time, EDF and McGill University mapped every existing documented orphan well across our country. Shortly after, Congress passed the Infrastructure and Investment Act, IIJA, which included $4.7 billion to document, plug and remediate orphan wells. This new funding, secured through EDF’s leadership, provides federal support for the first time for states, Tribes, and federal land management agencies to find and plug orphan oil and gas wells that are inactive and unplugged with no solvent owner of record.

Prior to this legislation, states, which oversee 90% of the wells in the country, had a fraction of the funding needed to plug wells with the unfortunate result that they often sat unplugged for decades. Now, we’re publishing an updated orphan wells map that draws on newly available data to offer decision makers and the public a clearer picture of the issue.

Posted in General / Comments are closed

Pennsylvania acts to avert a manufactured crisis to protect its economy, environment and $750 million in federal funds

By EDF Blogs / Published: November 30, 2022

Image courtesy of Earthworks

By John Rutecki and John Walliser

On Nov. 21^st, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf announced his administration would pursue a now-approved emergency rulemaking to finalize long-overdue volatile organic compound and methane rules for the conventional oil and gas industry.

Also posted in Air Quality, Methane / Tagged Pennsylvania | Comments are closed

What a catastrophic gas leak in Pennsylvania means for our climate and health

By EDF Blogs / Published: November 21, 2022

Image credit: Methane plume from the leak captured by the Sentinel-2 satellite on 9 November (data processed by UNEP/IMEO)

Update: According to the operator, this leak has been plugged.

By Adam Peltz and Jon Goldstein

A natural gas storage site in Western Pennsylvania has sprung a massive gas leak that’s impacting both the climate and the communities who live in Cambria County.

The leak began Thursday, Nov. 6 at a facility operated by Equitrans Midstream Corporation. Despite efforts from the company and state officials, it has continued for weeks – causing over 1 billion cubic feet of methane and other pollutants to fill the air. Its impact is massive – large enough to be seen and quantified from space from the growing network of methane satellites. The near-term warming generated from this single site over the course of a few weeks is roughly equivalent to emissions from 360,000 cars over a year.

Posted in General / Comments are closed