Crypto News: Methane emissions keep rising

Today's newsletter looks at how a global pledge to curb a potent greenhouse gas has so far done little to stop releases from the fossil fuel sector. You can read this story — and all COP29 coverage — for free on Bloomberg.com. For unlimited access to climate news and data, please subscribe.

By Aaron Clark and Zachary R Mider

Sitting in his cramped office in Paris, Manfredi Caltagirone admits that one of the world's highest-profile efforts to cut methane emissions so far isn't stopping the gas from escaping and warming the atmosphere.

Caltagirone heads the International Methane Emissions Observatory, or IMEO, an informal police force that's the tip of the spear in the global war against the potent greenhouse gas. His team at the United Nations includes researchers who scour satellite data to identify and sound the alarm on methane plumes in an effort to help nearly 160 countries that are backing a pledge made almost three years ago to cut pollution 30% by 2030.

Since it launched a notification system in 2022, IMEO has told companies and governments about more than 1,100 giant methane clouds escaping from oil and gas facilities. Yet the number of releases that it's verified have been halted "can be counted on two hands, maybe one," Caltagirone said. "Action taken in response to the notifications is lower than we were expecting."

Tackling methane — and doing so quickly — has been declared a crucial priority by world leaders and fossil fuel executives, many of whom have signed on to an accelerating series of pledges since 2021 to shore up their green credentials. New commitments have been among key outcomes from successive annual UN climate conferences, and major polluters insist they are making progress. The 12 members of the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative, which includes Saudi Arabia's Aramco, Exxon Mobil Corp. and China National Petroleum Corp., say they've halved emissions of the gas since 2017.

Yet methane emissions from the fossil fuel industry, including coal mining, remain close to a record level set in 2019 as supply continues to expand, according to International Energy Agency data. Concentrations of atmospheric methane, from human and natural sources, have surged faster than any period on record.

"There's a huge disagreement between what companies say they're emitting and what the scientific field thinks that they're emitting," says Rob Jackson, a Stanford University climate scientist who has tracked the rise in methane. "We're not seeing real action on a scale or at a pace that's making a difference."

Because methane traps much more heat than carbon dioxide in the short term, cutting emissions, especially from fossil fuel systems, is widely seen as one of the fastest and most achievable ways to slow global warming. Money is also pouring into technologies that can curb methane from trickier sources such as cows and landfills.

Methane will again be a focus when more than 190 countries gather in Baku for COP29 talks later this month. Azerbaijan, this year's host, is a major exporter of gas and a serial emitter. This year, it signed on to the flagship Global Methane Pledge to cut emissions and will put forward a new international commitment to reduce methane from organic waste. The COP29 presidency will also convene a summit with the US and China on methane and other non-CO2 greenhouse gases.

Still, taming methane pollution will take years, even if the recent flurry of pacts and agreements are successful. So far, at least, there's little to show for those highly publicized efforts.

Where is the IMEO finding the most methane plumes? Read the story online to see which countries are triggering the highest number of alerts, as well as satellite images of some of the biggest releases.

This is how much methane emissions from 13 of the world's major fossil fuel producing regions have risen from 2020 to 2023, according to Kayrros SA, a satellite-data analysis company.

"You can run but you can't hide. We have to be prepared to name and shame."

John Kerry

Former US climate envoy

At the COP28 conference in Dubai, Kerry hailed the ability to pinpoint emissions sources from the sky as a breakthrough in combating methane. But as the IMEO's Caltagirone points out: "Data by themselves don't reduce emissions."

It's not just methane that's being watched from above. Satellites are being tested to detect plastic pollution.

Data scientist Jenna Guffogg laid out weathered fragments from a clam-shell child's pool, bubble wrap, single-use PET bottles and a blue polyester tarp at her local seashore in Australia. It was enough to be captured in an image by the Maxar Technologies Inc.'s WorldView-3 satellite, which flew nearly 620 kilometers (385 miles) overhead.

Guffogg's findings, published in a study in Marine Pollution Bulletin, show how the use of satellites to locate plastic waste on beaches could aid efforts to curb the estimated 19 to 23 million metric tons of the material that enters marine and coastal ecosystems each year. That total is currently projected to about double by 2030.

Covid and climate wreak more havoc together. A largely unnoticed surge of rare but deadly fungi is accelerating around the world, helped by the pandemic and a warming planet that appears to be training them to survive at higher temperatures.

Insurer offers carbon credit fraud protection. The broker, Marsh, will start offering contracts to protect companies against fraud in the market for carbon credits, after the instruments became the subject of recurring allegations of greenwashing.

India is preparing for more renewables. The country is overhauling the way it forecasts electricity demand to ensure generation capacity matches what's needed and the grid remains stable with increasing volumes of clean energy.

The 16th United Nations Biodiversity Conference ended abruptly Saturday as countries were unable to come to an agreement on the creation of a new global nature fund in time.

After negotiations in Cali, Colombia, stretched through Friday night and into Saturday morning and delegates began to depart to travel home, Susana Muhamad, the host country's environment minister and the president of the summit, ultimately suspended the summit for lack of a quorum.

While there are still a number of issues to work out, the conference achieved some of its goals. Countries will move forward with a new Cali Fund to protect nature, to be paid into by companies that sell products, such as pharmaceuticals and cosmetics, based on genetic data from the natural world.

David Ainsworth, a spokesman for the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, said when and where the summit will resume is still to be determined. Anything already adopted at the conference still stands and is operative, he said.

Gustavo Petro, Colombia's president, right, kisses the forehead of an environmental activist during COP16. Photographer: Jair F. Coll/Bloomberg

By Rodrigo Orihuela and Thomas Gualtieri

Barcelona's transport system ground to a halt, as Catalonia was the latest Spanish region to be hit by extreme storms that killed more than 200 people in neighboring Valencia last week.

Flooded streets brought traffic to a standstill in the capital of Catalonia, while local train services were suspended on Monday. Flights were also redirected from Barcelona's airport, with parts of Catalonia under a red alert for torrential rains. Schools suspended classes in nine cities in the south of the region.

Southern Catalonia borders Valencia, which is grappling with the aftermath of floods that killed at least 217 people, with hundreds more still missing. While the heavy rains have subsided in Valencia, downpours have been moving north along the Mediterranean coast to Catalonia. Read the full story on Bloomberg.com.

Residents in a street covered with flood debris and mud during clean up operations in Paiporta, Spain, on Nov. 3. Photographer: Angel Garcia/Bloomberg