The past few weeks have been massive. Today’s Highwood Bulletin covers trends in global methane concentrations, new proposed regulations and regulatory frameworks in the US and Canada, new action on methane commitments by Australia, the 2022 IMEO methane report and MARS tool, CCS commitments to achieve net-zero in Canadian oilsands, Chevron’s new methane report, employment opportunities with Highwood, and much more content from our team of experts!
WMO Reports Largest Global Methane Increase Ever Recorded in 2021
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has published a new report showing that global atmospheric methane concentrations increased more from 2021 to 2022 than any other year on record (40 years). At this time, the reason for the increase is unclear, but the facts are sobering and remind us that despite considerable progress and innovation, significant work lies ahead for methane mitigation. Read the press release here and access the report here.
Second Draft of US Oil and Gas Methane Rules Published
In November 2021, the United States Environmental Protection Agency published a first draft of strong methane rules for the oil and gas industry. On Friday, November 11th, after extensive public commenting and a nearly a year of revisions, a second draft has been published. These rules are expected to cut methane emissions by 87% relative to 2005 levels. Comments on the updated proposal must be received on or before February 13, 2023. Access the rule and associated documentation here. Read the press release here.
Canada Proposes New Regulatory Framework for O&G Methane
The Canadian Government is proposing strict new rules in a bid to achieve 75% methane emissions reductions from the O&G industry by 2030, relative to 2012. The proposed rules effectively eliminate intentional methane venting, flaring, and blowdowns, and requires monthly leak detection and repair on all sites (including single wells). The government is accepting comments until December 12th, 2022. Read the framework and learn more here.
Australia Joins Global Methane Pledge
The Australian government has joined more than 100 countries in a pledge to slash methane emissions by 30% by 2030. The announcement comes with US $1.9 billion in funding for low emissions technology to help lower emissions from manufacturing and agriculture. Read more here.
IMEO Publishes 2022 Report and Tool
The International Methane Emissions Observatory, a United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) initiative, has published their second annual report. The report focuses on learnings from the Oil and Gas Methane Partnership (OGMP) 2.0, a coalition of companies reporting on methane emissions that has grown to 80+ member companies. IMEO has also announced at COP27 its new Methane Alert and Response System (MARS), which will use satellites to bring transparency to global methane emissions. Access the report and supporting documents here.
Canadian Oilsands to Spend on CCS
The Pathways Alliance, a coalition of Canadian oilsands companies committed to net-zero emissions, are planning to spend CA $16.5 billion by 2030 on a new carbon capture facility. The project is planning to capture ~10MM tonnes per year of carbon dioxide from 20+ facilities. Read more here.
Report: Chevron Publishes 2022 Methane Report
Chevron has published a new methane report describing targets, activities, and plans to reduce methane emissions. The detailed report provides useful guidance and lessons learned for those working in methane monitoring and abatement. Since 2016, Chevron reports 50% reduction in methane intensity, which is now 85% lower than the US average. Learn how Chevron is doing it by reading the press release here and accessing the free report here.
New Highwood Content
In addition to this bulletin, Highwood publishes much more free educational content. In the past month, this has included a post on methane emissions reconciliation by Thomas Fox (click here), a deep dive into recent peer reviewed research by Chris Nixon (click here), and a post on emissions reduction business opportunities by Maddy Strange (click here). Make sure you sign up for our free newsletter to catch it all!
Join our Team! Highwood is Hiring!
We currently have multiple exciting career postings on our website. In addition to those listed, Highwood is always looking for bright folks who want to help us change the world for the better. If you have experience in greenhouse gas emissions management and you’re looking for a career change, please reach out! Check out our active opportunities on our website by clicking here.
Want to Write for the Bulletin?
We’re always looking for guest writers who would like to contribute a Feature Article to the Highwood Bulletin. Please reach out if you’d like to write an unbiased, apolitical, solution-agnostic article for our ~2000 subscribers and ~5000 LinkedIn followers on an emissions management topic. Please reach out to [email protected] with your idea. Authors are fully credited and have a profile page on our website (we are happy to backlink).
