Satellites, AI are the New "Pollution Police" set to Monitor the Oil and Gas Industry
Satellites are being deployed to track the UN climate summit agenda of whether companies are living up to their climate change promises.
Satellites are the next tool that will hold oil and gas companies accountable in their promise to cut methane emissions and slow global warming. That’s according to a recent report from Business Insider involving Michael Bloomberg’s recent comment.
The United Arab Emirates, host of this year's UN climate summit COP28, on Saturday announced that dozens of oil and gas companies — accounting for 40% of global production — aim to nearly eliminate their methane emissions by 2030. Many state-owned oil companies signed on, including the UAE's Adnoc, as well as Saudi Arabia's Saudi Aramco. US firms ExxonMobil and Shell, and other international oil majors will also participate.
Shortly after, a separate initiative was announced that will use satellites to track whether the companies keep their promise. The billionaire businessman and philanthropist Michael Bloomberg pledged $40 million to the initiative — a partnership with the Environmental Defense Fund that will launch its own satellite early next year.
"Oil and gas companies often don't have the data on these methane emissions, including where leaks are happening," Bloomberg, UN special envoy for climate ambition and solutions, told reporters in Dubai. "Even when data is available, there often aren't rules and incentives in place to make sure companies do something about it."
Methane is a potent greenhouse gas with 80 times the warming power of carbon dioxide, though it only lingers in the atmosphere for about a decade compared with centuries for carbon dioxide. That short lifespan is why climate scientists say eliminating methane emissions is one of the quickest ways to slow global warming.
Even though numerous countries and oil and gas companies have pledged to slash methane emissions in recent years, they are still rising to record levels, according to the IEA. The agency, university scientists, and environmental groups have published research showing that national governments are significantly undercounting total emissions.
Historically, measuring methane was challenging because the gas is colorless, leaks are unpredictable, and finding them involved expensive field studies with aircraft and handheld infrared cameras. That approach only offered a snapshot in time and the research took a long time to publish.
Those methods have changed over the last decade. A new generation of satellites can now pinpoint methane leaks almost anywhere and, within days, computers equipped with AI models can calculate the amount of emissions escaping. This, in turn, means oil and gas companies responsible for the plumes can be notified faster and potentially take action.
The UN last year launched its own methane alert and response system that uses satellites to monitor emissions and notify countries and companies. Since then, 1,500 methane plumes were identified and some governments took action, including Argentina.
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