This week’s Highwood Bulletin features emissions management news, content, and opportunities from around the world, including new net-zero commitments, satellite measurements of extreme emitters, a new report on careers in methane mitigation, a number of new research articles describing methane measurement technologies and their findings, insights on EPA’s new methane rules, courses, webinars, and conferences you won’t want to miss.
News: G7 Leaders Commit to Net Zero by 2050
The G7 summit hosted by the United Kingdom resulted in commitments to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and become carbon neutral by 2050 in efforts to limit global warming to 1.5C. Leaders also committed $100bn per year in climate assistance to developing nations. Read more here.
News: Canadian Oilsands Producers Make 2050 Net Zero Commitment
Canadian oilsands producers, including CNRL, Cenovus, Imperial, MEG, and Suncor, have jointly committed to the production of carbon neutral oil by 2050. The shift should help the sector face rising domestic carbon taxes and stakeholder pressure to limit carbon intensity. Read more here.
News: Super-emitters Detected by Satellite in Canada & Around the World
A series of new articles by Bloomberg is exposing rare, intermittent, but powerful emissions events detected by satellite around the world. Most recently, articles have been published on events in the Canadian prairies, in South Africa, and in Russia. A release identified in Canada was estimated to be 79 tonnes per hour (how much gas is that?!), but it remains unclear how accurate these estimates are.
News: Keystone Pipeline Canceled by TC Energy
After a decade of struggling to get off the ground, efforts by TC Energy to launch the Keystone Pipeline have come to an end. Both TC and the Alberta government have invested heavily in recent years to see the project to completion, but U.S. President Joe Biden put a nail in the pipeline’s coffin by canceling the Presidential permit. Read more here.
Report: Find, Fix, Measure – Careers in Methane
The Environment Defense Fund has published a detailed report on the employment opportunities emerging in a world transitioning to methane reductions from the O&G industry. The report focuses on opportunities in LDAR, advanced data analytics, mitigation technologies, and strategic advisory. Get the report here.
Research: A New Method for Urban Leak Detection
Research: Intermittence and Persistence of Super-emitters in the Permian
An aerial methane measurement campaign in the Permian Basin led by NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory has shown that large leaks are persistent 26% of the time. Counterintuitively, the largest leaks were the most persistent. Approximately 50% of emissions came from production, 38% from gathering and boosting, and 12% from processing, suggesting a much higher emphasis on midstream than previously observed. Read the study here.
Research: How to Improve the EPA’s Methane Regulations
A new paper by Bob Kleinberg of Boston University and Columbia University show that little progress has been made to achieve 2016 commitments by Obama to reduce O&G methane in the U.S. With new regulations in active development, Dr. Kleinberg argues that the EPA should leverage new methane measurement technologies to implement performance-based regulations. Read the paper here.
ICYMI: Taking Credit for Responsibly Sourced Gas Mini Conference
On June 8th, Highwood Emissions Management, in Collaboration with Petroleum Technology Alliance Canada (PTAC) and Gas Technology Institute (GTI) hosted an interactive mini conference to explore Highwood’s new report on voluntary emissions reduction initiatives. The event was a hit! If you missed it, you can catch up on all the talks here. Please reach out with any questions or if you need support navigating opportunities in responsibly sourced oil and gas.
Conference: CH4 Connections, Colorado, Oct 12-13
Course: Understanding Scope 2 & 3 Emissions
Do you understand Scope 1 emissions and are ready to take your knowledge to the next level? Sign up now for JWN’s Scope 2 & 3 emissions course, hosted by Highwood’s CEO Jessica Shumlich. Register here. If you missed the wildly popular Scope 1 course, we’re offering it again and you can register here.
Career Opportunity: Highwood is Hiring!
Looking for a meaningful career in greenhouse gas emissions management? Have strong technical, interpersonal, and organizational skills? This sounds like a match made in heaven. Join Highwood’s team!
