IEA’s annual report 2022
- Category
Ecology and Environment
- Published
4th Mar, 2023
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Context
Recently, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has released its report for the year 2022, setting alarm for global carbon emitters.
Key findings of the report:
- Around 40% of all average human activity-related methane emissions come from the energy industry.
- The greenhouse gas is also released throughout the drilling, extraction, and transportation processes through leaks from valves and other equipment.
- By applying well-known procedures like leak detection and repair programmes and updating leaky equipment, emissions in the oil and gas sector can be reduced by over 75%.
- Ultimately reducing 75 per cent of the wastage of natural gas could lower global temperature rise by nearly 0.1 degree Celsius by mid-century.
- For industries: The 80 per cent of the available options to curb the release of methane could be implemented by the fossil fuel industry at net zero cost.
About Methane:
- With only one carbon atom and four hydrogen atoms, methane remains the most basic hydrocarbon (CH4). It is flammable, and is used as a fuel worldwide.
- As per UNEP For its first 20 years in the atmosphere, methane has a warming effect that is more than 80 times greater than that of carbon dioxide.
- Agricultural practises, coal mining, oil and gas systems, natural gas networks, and wastes are some of the common sources of methane.
- Methane has a significant short-term impact on the rate of climate change because it is approximately 25 times more effective at trapping heat in the atmosphere.
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Initiatives to tackle Methane emissions:
- National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC): The NAPCC was established in 2008 with the goal of raising awareness of the threat posed by climate change and the means to counter it
- ‘Harit Dhara’ (HD): The Harit Dhara (HD) anti-methanogenic feed supplement was created by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). It can increase milk output while reducing the methane emissions from cattle by 17 to 20%.
- India Greenhouse Gas Program: The India GHG Program is an industry-led voluntary framework to quantify and manage greenhouse gas emissions.
- It is run by the non-profit organisation WRI India, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), and The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI).
- Bharat Stage-VI: India changed its emission standards from Bharat Stage-IV (BS-IV) to Bharat Stage-VI (BS-VI).
- Global Methane pledge: About 100 nations had joined forces in a voluntary pledge to reduce methane emissions by at least 30% from the levels in 2020 by 2030 at the Glasgow climate conference (UNFCCC COP 26) in 2021.