Methane emissions exceed estimates – El Sol de México

Las emisiones de metano en el país provocadas por la actividad petrolera en el Golfo de México son hasta 45 por ciento mayores que las reportadas por el Gobierno federal, señala un estudio elaborado por cuatro universidades internacionales internacionales la de el Washington, United State.

According to the United Nations, methane (CH4), along with carbon dioxide (CO2), is one of the two gases that cause global warming.

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Last Monday, the Intergovernmental Group on Climate Change presented its report, which warns that the world has entered its warmest period in two millennia, which will have irreversible effects for millennia.

The study was conducted to reveal the significant discrepancy in methane emissions in Mexico using satellite observations by Harvard universities, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Westlake University School of Engineering in China, as well as Utrecht University in the Netherlands.

The report notes that, according to satellite monitoring, methane emissions from industrial activity in the Gulf of Mexico region, the region where the country’s largest oil activity is concentrated, are 45 percent higher than the Inventario National Institute’s estimate of greenhouse gases and composite emissions, which is the institute’s responsibility. The National Environment and Climate Change (INEEC), a decentralized body under the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat).

This result has not changed, despite the fact that between 2015 and 2019 the country’s oil production showed a contraction of 30 percent, detailing the universities responsible for the study.

According to satellite monitoring prepared for this study, 95 percent of methane emissions from activities related to the oil sector are concentrated in the Gulf of Mexico coast.

The document adds that methane measurements in the country are “subject to significant uncertainties”, because Mexico does not have its own measurement system for obtaining accurate data on emissions of these gases.

“In the case of emissions from the oil and gas sector, inventories are based largely on emission factors generated from other countries and not based on local measurements, which increases uncertainty about the magnitude of emissions and makes mitigation measures more complex,” warns the Washington Environmental Defense Fund.

During the Climate Summit of the Conference of the Parties in Paris (COP21), held in 2015, Mexico committed to reducing its emissions of pollutants, such as greenhouse gases, by 40-45 percent annually between 2020 and 2025.

To support this goal, in 2018 the federal government published a set of regulations that require every facility involved in oil and gas exploitation to report current emissions and develop plans to reduce them, through initiatives such as implementing the Frequent Spill System. detection and repair activities.

“For these mitigation policies to be effective and to evaluate their results, it is necessary to determine the current magnitude of emissions, as well as the spatial distribution of the main sources,” says the international study.