Groups extend methane standard to global LNG sector

In the wake of the United Nations Environment Programme’s publication earlier this month of a new report on global methane emissions, two established certification organisations said May 13 they will collaborate to help reduce methane emissions from the production and transport of liquefied natural gas.

MiQ, the independent and not-for-profit partnership between RMI and SYSTEMIQ, has already developed a global certification model to incentivise methane abatement across the oil and gas sector, starting with upstream production. US producers like EQT and Northeast Natural Energy have already adopted standards developed by MiQ.

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Now MiQ will extend its standard to the LNG value chain through a collaboration with Carbon Limits, a diverse group of engineers, economists and policy experts with strong expertise and experience in mitigating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the oil and gas sector.

The move will create the first independently audited certification standard for LNG this summer, aiming to tackle the environmental impacts of methane emissions head-on, MiQ said. Certification will be done on an asset basis to ensure accuracy, offering certainty on environmental performance.  

“We need to redefine our energy systems so that they work in lockstep with our global environmental goals, and the development of this cutting-edge standard represents a tangible leap forward,” said Georges Tijbosch, MiQ’s senior advisor. “From early summer, LNG producers and buyers will be given the tools to provide the transparency currently missing in the market, helping to pick up the pace in our fight against climate change and taking us one step closer to net-zero.” 

Equivalent to eight times the CO₂ emissions from the global aviation sector in a normal year, the impact of global methane emissions from oil and gas is significant, and with oil and gas expected to remain part of the energy mix beyond 2030, a global standard for measuring methane marks a critical step in its abatement.

Achieving 0.2% methane emissions performance, Carbon Limits says, would have a “huge” impact on global annual GHG emissions – equivalent to taking 1.2bn cars off the road by 2030.

“Methane emissions from oil and gas installations are hard to trace and quantify with large discrepancies in estimates as a result,” Carbon Limits managing director Stephanie Saunier said. “Robust monitoring, reporting and verification frameworks are needed, established through an independent and science-based process.”

The MiQ standard, which is audited by a third party, assesses methane emissions performance based on three metrics – methane intensity, company practices, and methane detection technology deployment – and grades that performance across a sliding A-F scale which ensures transparency and makes it easy for buyers to understand the environmental performance of the LNG they are buying.