Biogas, biomethane still comes with a hidden climate cost

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2022-06-18 01:00

International

Image by Gerald Krieseler from Pixabay

Touted as a more climate-friendly alternative to natural gas, biomethane and biogas created from organic waste still may emit significantly more methane than previously thought, according to international research. The team collated existing data to estimate the amount of methane emitted through each stage of the biogas and biomethane supply chain, and found the top 5% of emitters are responsible for 62% of methane emissions. They say the top emitter could be emitting five times the methane previously estimated, showing efforts to mitigate these emissions are important should biogas and biomethane be a part of the energy landscape.

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Journal/
conference: One Earth

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: Imperial College London, UK

Funder: The authors would like to acknowledge the funding from the Sustainable Gas Institute, founded by Imperial College London. Funding for projects under the umbrella of the Sustainable Gas Institute is gratefully received from Imperial College London, Royal Dutch Shell, Enaga´ s S.A., FAPESP, CNPq, SNAM, NERC, EPSRC, and Horizon 2020 programs. We thank Thomas Flesch and Anders Michael Fredenslund for their cooperation. Graphical abstract is created with BioRender.com.

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