Canada’s First-Ever Methane Census to Help Define a Path to Meet 2030 Reduction Targets
By Alyssa Tremblay
October 30, 2023
After weathering a summer of wildfires, tornados and record-breaking rainfall and heat, many Canadians are left worrying how we can address climate change fast enough to prevent future environmental disasters.
Thankfully, there is an immediate way for us to pull the emergency brake on global warming. By reducing the amount of methane – a potent greenhouse gas that traps heat in our planet’s atmosphere – released into the air, we can slow global temperature rise and allow time to implement parallel mitigation solutions for trickier greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide.
But exactly how much methane is Canada producing and where is it coming from?
As the national hub for the study of methane, Carleton University’s Energy and Emissions Research Lab (EERL) led by engineering professor Matthew Johnson recently completed the country’s first-ever upstream oil and gas methane census, collecting vital data to help Canada meet its ambitious target of reducing 75% of all methane emissions produced by our oil and gas industry by 2030.
“This is the first time anyone has produced a proper, measurement-based methane emissions inventory for the country – or any country, for that matter,” says Johnson.