Natural Resource Governance Institute’s Post

Today Financial Times is running a big story on our flagship Satellite methane and detection program. For the last year we have used satellites detecting methane leaks in Kazakhstan, Algeria and Egypt and engaged local operators. In short, we try to offer a helping hand to companies: - We are able to detect emissions and then use sophisticated technology to make the gas visible — that’s one step. Then we use the unique access that we have as companies to be able to engage with local operators even in remote geographies,” said Bjørn Otto Sverdrup, chair of OGCI’s executive committee. We estimate that 1 million tones of CO2 equivalents so far have been removed by the local operators. Amazing numbers and we have met positivity and a willingness to act. We raise awareness, we share data and companies are able to mitigate leaks. Today, at the opening of CERAWeek we launched that we will expanding our program to 7-8 more countries and a full more year. See more on ogci.com for full reports. This action is additional to the activities are already dong to reduce methane emissions inside the member companies of OGCI (Oil and Gas Climate Initiative), which represent around 30% or the world's oil and gas production. Since 2017 the companies have reduced their combined emissions with 50%. Congrats to the great team for achievements already made: Pietro, Lauren Ward; Asli Korkmaz and for company lead Vanessa Ryan, Matt Kolesar and our Role of gas group as well as partners in Climate Investment (CI), GHGSAT and organizations challenging us to improve Environmental Defense Fund Mark S. Brownstein Andrew Baxter Manfredi Caltagirone Equinor Aiming For Zero Methane Emissions Initiative Carbon Limits AS Stephanie Saunier https://lnkd.in/dVR3ffjR

Too many articles and posts in my feed as of late on methane detecting satellites completely ignore the efforts being undertaken by oil and gas producers to reduce emissions and tout satellites only as a way to "name and shame" companies. As an oil and gas industry professional, I am very excited to see methane detecting satellites added to the multiple layers of detection technology, a system of systems, being deployed by many operators in the oil and gas industry to quickly detect, repair, and prevent methane leaks. Thank you Stephane Germain of GHGSAT, Bjørn Otto Sverdrup of OGCI (Oil and Gas Climate Initiative), and Jamie Smyth of the Financial Times for your article and posts explaining how the oil and gas industry is actively using satellite technology to reduce methane emissions. #TheRestOfTheStory #energystrong #innovation #technology #sustainability #netzero #methane #ghgemissions

It remains important to see matters in the right perspective when assessing the 'success' of the green transition globally.

The federal emissions cap is costly and ineffective. Demand will remain high and production will shift to countries with minimal environmental protections, like Russia or Iran. It’s a lose-lose for our economy and the planet. #cdnpoli #abpoli #LNG #energy

With global oil demand expected to peak by 2030, a crucial question arises: will African nations with massive, newly discovered oil and gas reserves have enough time to develop them before the transition to cleaner energy sources accelerates? 💡In this thought-provoking article by Ben Payton in African Business Magazine, Associate Director Nick Branson highlights the complexities facing emerging producers. “Outsiders question whether Namibia has sufficiently robust public financial management and oversight mechanisms to maximise the benefits of an oil and gas windfall that is set to coincide with an energy transition that will likely constrain global crude demand,” he notes.   Read the article 👇 https://bit.ly/4djlQZe #AfricaEnergy #OilandGas #ClimateChangeDebate #Sustainability #EnergyTransition #RenewableAlternatives

🌍 I’m thrilled to share the “Carbon Minefields Newsletter,” our latest data project. This Oil and Gas Exploration Monitor will provide key monthly updates on oil and gas expansion globally—flagging misalignment with the Paris Agreement target. #NoNewFossilFuels projects are compatible with the 1.5C target. Our Carbon Minefields Newsletter tracks all new oil and gas exploration licenses and highlights their climate impact. We also flag upcoming and ongoing licensing rounds and monitor of companies’ spending to explore and develop new oil and gas fields. It provides rolling annual updates and detailed insight into last month's activities. The Guardian stellar reporting of our data and analysis shows that wealthy countries such as the UK, the US, Canada, Norway and Australia need to stop opening new fields and lead the transition. However, new licences they issued contributed five times more greenhouse gas emissions between 2014 and 2023 than all other oil- and gas-producing countries combined. Together with Eduardo Posada, we leveraged programming tools and AI to scrape Rystad Energy oil and gas datasets to deliver essential insights into the industry’s expansion activities straight to your inbox every month. The newsletter aims to be a valuable tool for NGOs and CSOs holding governments accountable for their energy transition. 🔗 Read the IISD Press Release here: https://lnkd.in/e8A-ZyCv 📥 To stay tuned for new analysis on this critical piece of the energy transition sign up for the Carbon Minefields newsletter subscribe here: https://lnkd.in/epg8z7Pz

The WSJ writes, Robert Howarth, a methane researcher at Cornell University, said in a recent study that exports of LNG from the US were so bad for the climate that ending the use of LNG should be a global priority. The research influenced Joe Biden’s decision in Jan to pause new approvals of LNG exports. The turn of events riled execs throughout the natural gas industry—especially at EQT, the country’s largest natural-gas producer. EQT Corporation extracts natural gas from Appalachian fields and has been evangelizing the benefits of US LNG, which it says can help reduce carbon emissions abroad. The company is campaigning to quadruple the nation’s export capacity by 2030. William Jordan, EQT’s general counsel, said Howarth has been seeking to influence policymakers at the expense of rigor. He said Howarth crossed the line between research and advocacy, and his work contributes to a false narrative that shutting down natural gas pipelines and blocking LNG plants helps mitigate climate change. “It’s a problem when the purpose of scientific research shifts from gaining understanding to influencing,” Jordan said in the company’s first public remarks about the research. Howarth’s work has brought him scorn across the natural gas industry. The Independent Petroleum Association of America - IPAA, one of the industry’s largest lobbying groups, recently described his research as “biased and agenda-driven.” The sparring underscores what is at stake for operators. Gas producers argue that natural gas is much cleaner than coal and plays an important role in the nascent energy transition. The industry says rising global coal consumption proves developing nations can’t just leap to renewables and need a cleaner substitute. Jordan said Howarth’s argument that shale gas is worse for the climate than coal relies on flawed assumptions about how much methane coal and shale gas emit, and that the scientist is cherry-picking data. Howarth has forged closer ties with environmental advocacy groups than some mainstream scientists are comfortable with. He serves on the board of Food & Water Watch, a nonprofit that supports a national ban on fracking. The Park Foundation, a family foundation that opposes shale gas, has funded his work in part, including his LNG analysis. Jordan said these ties could be conflicts of interest. Several scientists said receiving research funding from advocacy groups is acceptable as long as the support is disclosed, and the funder has no role in the content of the studies they support. Howarth has no plans to stop weighing in on fossil fuels’ contribution to climate change. ♻️ 👀 #lng #methane #energy

Per the WSJ, Robert Howarth, Prof of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology at Cornell, is getting under the skin of the oil-and-gas industry. At issue is his study that argues against looking to LNG as a transitional bridge fuel. Gas producer EQT Corporation argues Howarth eschewed scientific accountability as he sought to influence policymaking by releasing his study before it had been peer-reviewed. It’s been widely reported that Howarth's work was influential in Biden’s pausing LNG in January. It hasn’t gone unnoticed, “If we’re not following science, scientific consensus, then any single scientist can influence policy decisions for the good or for the bad,” said an EQT exec. This isn’t Howarth’s first time dueling with critics—or courting controversy. In 2011, he said in a study that natural gas fracking resulted in significant methane leaks. Though environmentalists praised the research, some scientists criticized it as sloppy. Howarth categorically denies EQT's assertion that his assumptions are flawed or that he is selectively picking data. He notes he is one of the most cited scientists in the world, and said his research was received positively by the rest of the scientific community. “Many of my colleagues have congratulated me for having the wisdom to take on important topics, such as methane from shale gas…and LNG in a timely way,” he said. “I’ve taken a calculated risk, and I wouldn’t have taken the calculated risk unless I was really confident.” Howarth, who has been has a tenured faculty member at Cornell for nearly 40 years, says he would have preferred his work go through a peer-review process before publishing it, but that that he had an ethical duty to participate in an important debate in a timely manner. Our Take 1: While Howarth’s analysis seems reasonable at first blush, there are two assumptions that undermine his results. First, is that fugitive methane emissions are 80x more potent than CO2 from combusted methane. This is 2.7x the factor normally used in such analyses, which account for methane's shorter half-life, and a strange assumption. Our Take 2: Another questionable aspect of the study is the assumption domestic coal production, to which he compares exported LNG, is consumed very near the point of consumption. Why? We suspect an apples-to-apples comparison of exported coal would prove detrimental to the study’s anti-natural gas conclusions. Our Take 3: Howarth is skating where the LNG puck was a few years ago, ignoring reductions in methane emissions—both as recently mandated by EPA, and voluntarily by the industry. Arguably, Howarth's math is now obsolete. Out Take 4: Be encouraged. The petroleum industry's focus on reducing fugitive methane emissions, combined with improving gas-fired generation tech, should seal the deal for natural gas as the clear alternative to coal-fired generation for decades to come. The industry needs to take its abatement seriously. #methane #climatechange #globalwarming 👀👇

𝐔𝐍 𝐒𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐲-𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥’𝐬 𝐏𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐥 𝐨𝐧 𝐂𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐄𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐲 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐬 With ever-growing needs for minerals that are critical for renewable energy technologies. UN Secretary-General António Guterres appointed a Panel on Critical Energy Transition Minerals in April 2024, leveraging the United Nations’ convening power to bring together a diverse group of governments and other stakeholders across the entire minerals value chain to develop a set of global common and voluntary principles to safeguard environmental and social standards and embed justice, in the energy transition. The Secretary-General’s Panel on Critical Energy Transition Minerals seeks to build trust between governments, local communities and industry, by addressing issues relating to equity, transparency, investment, sustainability and human rights. It builds on existing standards and initiatives. Limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, to avert the worst impacts of climate change, will depend on the sufficient, reliable and affordable supply of critical energy transition minerals such as copper, lithium, nickel, cobalt and rare earth elements, which are essential components of clean energy technologies – from wind turbines and solar panels to electric vehicles and battery storage. The panel is co-chaired by Ambassador Nozipho Joyce Mxakato-Diseko of South Africa and Ms. Ditte Juul Jørgensen, Director-General for Energy of the European Commission. It consists of 39 members, including governments (US, China, EU, UK and many more) as well as industry, civil society and representation from indigenous peoples and youth. The first in-person meeting of the Secretary-General’s Panel on Critical Energy Transition Minerals took place last week in Copenhagen, UN City, 8-9 July. Read more here: https://bit.ly/3WmHhly #AFRICED #News #JustTransition #CriticalMinerals #ClimateEmergency

A recent study found the world has enough fossil fuel projects planned to meet global energy demand forecasts to 2050 – if governments deliver the changes promised in order to keep the world from breaching its climate targets. But the oil and gas rush, led by the richest countries, risks demolishing hopes that the world can stay within internationally agreed-upon limits aimed at preventing catastrophic heatwaves, wildfires, flooding and other impacts. No new oil and gas project can proceed if the Paris agreement, which calls for global temperatures to be restrained to a 1.5C (2.7F) rise above preindustrial levels, is to be met, according to the International Energy Agency. Despite this, countries are pushing ahead with a huge expansion in oil and gas activity, identifying and developing new resources at a pace not seen since the Paris deal was inked in a wave of optimism in 2015. The world’s consumption of fossil fuels climbed to a record high last year even as investment into clean energy such as solar and wind started to eclipse coal, oil and gas. PetroChina, the Chinese state-owned oil and gas arm, has spent the most on both exploration and well development over the past decade, with ExxonMobil, Saudi Aramco, Sinopec and Chevron among other businesses sinking the largest investments in new oil and gas.