Methane, the primary component of natural gas, can be emitted through leaks in agricultural operations, waste disposal, and energy production. This week, we spoke to Dr. Timiebi Aganaba about using satellites to detect leaks and strategies for using that data for good. For a transcript, please visit https://climatebreak.org/locating-methane-leaks-with-satellites-with-dr-timiebi-aganaba/.
Methane (CH4) (the primary component of “natural gas”) is the second most important greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide.
Around 60% of global methane emissions come from human activities in three main sectors: energy production (oil, gas, and coal), agriculture (livestock and rice), and waste (landfill and waste water). Energy production accounts for about 35% of anthropogenic methane emissions, agriculture accounts for about 40%, and waste accounts for about 20%.
Methane leaks from fossil fuel production, landfills, and livestock include emissions that are described as “super emitter events,” which have devastating ecological effects. While methane has a much shorter atmospheric lifetime than CO2 (around 12 years compared with one hundred years or more for CO2), it is a significantly more potent greenhouse gas, trapping eighty times more heat than CO2 over a 20 year period, which exacerbates the effects of climate change on our planet. Methane also negatively affects air quality because it is an ingredient in the formation of ground level (tropospheric) ozone, a dangerous air pollutant. Thus, monitoring methane leaks and formulating preventative methods is crucial to preserving the health of both the planet and all those who occupy it.
The United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) has undertaken many initiatives to mitigate methane leaks. In October 2021, UNEP launched the International Methane Emissions Observatory (IMEO), which catalogs emissions for the three largest methane-emitting sectors in a public database, providing governments and companies access to empirically verified methane emissions. This data can be used to build efficient policies to address large methane leakages.
In 2022, the UNEP launched the International Methane Alert and Response System, or MARS through its IMEO program, the first ever satellite-based detection system that notifies governments of major methane leaks from their fossil fuel infrastructure. IMEO breaks down satellite detection in four essential steps:
While developing satellite technology has helped, Dr. Aganaba argues for greater collaboration between different levels of government and greater transparency. While many governments and companies have agreed to methane emission reduction pledges, they are rarely legally binding.
Dr. Aganaba offers the following challenges and solutions. First, we need greater momentum at the federal level to get local and state actors to participate in satellite-based climate data collection. Second, there needs to be a standardization of data monitoring, collection, interpretation, and distribution in order for information to be verified and shared effectively, as this will enable better enforcement methods and compliance. Third, once what Dr. Aganaba refers to as a “national geospatial data infrastructure” is established, the international community must amend the space charters that dictate the current international geospatial data infrastructure. Dr. Aganaba stresses that this legal framework is crucial both to safeguard the environmental integrity of outer space and ensure that the mistakes made on earth are not repeated, both in terms of environmental exploitation and power sharing between developed and developing nations.
Satellite data is not a panacea. Satellites can sometimes mistake clouds or other natural phenomena for methane leaks. These readings are not always reliable as they can be obstructed by clouds, dense forests, or snow, and do not provide information about how much methane is being leaked in a specific location. They do, however, provide a great deal of useful data and much greater transparency.
Dr. Timiebi Aganaba is an assistant professor at the School for the Future of Innovation in Society at Arizona State University, where she founded the ASU Space Governance Lab. She is also the Senior Global Futures Scientist at Global Futures Scientists and Scholars. Dr. Aganaba specializes in international environmental law, international space law and policy, geoengineering, and satellite technology.
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Satellite Data to Methane Action: UNEP’s Methane Alert and Response System
The Climate Sleuth Uncovering Methane Leaks for the United Nations
For a transcript of this episode, please visit https://climatebreak.org/locating-methane-leaks-with-satellites-with-dr-timiebi-aganaba/.
Ethan: I’m Ethan Elkind, and you’re listening to Climate Brea. Climate solutions in a hurry. Today’s proposal: improving satellite data on methane leaks. Dr. Timiebi Aganaba, assistant professor at Arizona State University, explains.
Dr. Aganaba: Methane is, is a really potent greenhouse gas. It’s really complex to work with, and we find methane being leaked, you know, in oil and gas installations, simply even cows, right?
Ethan: Satellites can now detect where the methane leaks are coming from with increasing precision.
Dr. Aganaba: The innovation is really the ability to detect the chemical signatures coming out from a specific space, like a factory. That’s new!
Ethan: But she says we need more guidance on how to use this technology and the data it provides.
Dr. Aganaba: The techniques that each operator is going to use is going to be different. There’s no, there's no standardization of this capacity because it still depends on the way you collect the data, the way you interpret the data, the types of products that you need. None of that is standardized.
Ethan: She says more collaboration among policy makers and the people collecting the satellite data is needed.
Dr. Aganaba: The top down stuff needs to be there and integrated with the on-the-ground aspects also, which is always the challenging part because that’s so fragmented.
Ethan: Ultimately, better organized satellite data on methane emissions will contribute to innovative solutions.
Dr. Aganaba: The, the challenge here is going to be figuring out, how do we grow the pie when it comes to climate solutions that could be developed? And then the controversial issue of loss and damage, because we’re actually beyond adaption.
Ethan: To learn more about satellites and methane, visit climatebreak.org.