Coal mines are emitting millions of tons of methane into the atmosphere every year, says the International Energy Agency (IEA) – also known as the global energy watchdog. The IEA estimates that last year the number reached almost 40 million tons. That’s as much as the aviation and shipping industries combined!
The methane that is seeping out of all the world’s coal mines is contributing to the global climate crisis on quite a large scale. It’s just leaking out unchecked because policymakers are overlooking the rising climate threat. The IEA approximates that the amount of methane emissions from new and disused coal mines may have reached just under 40m tons because of this.
The scary thing is, methane is a potent greenhouse gas, far more powerful – in regards to its effect on global temperatures – than carbon dioxide. According to the IEA, one ton of methane is equal to 30 tons of carbon dioxide as far as its damaging power is concerned.
These shocking results were presented in a report along with the findings that carbon emissions from the global energy industry had reached a new record in 2018. Unfortunately, despite the renewable energy boom in effect over the past few years, carbon emissions are still on the rise.
The research regarding methane emissions from coal mines is one of the first major global studies examining the problem of that greenhouse gas specifically. It may aid in explaining the unexpected surge in methane emissions recently. According to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), last year had the third biggest rise in methane emissions in two decades.
A separate study by the American Geophysical Union said that urgent action would be required to stop methane from prompting an accelerated climate catastrophe – temperatures climbing far beyond the maximum 2°C of warming target.
Some studies give blame to rising levels of methane on melting arctic permafrost, belching cattle, and the destruction of wetlands and peat bogs. Well, now there are coal mines to add to the list of doom. Other culprits on the list are oil and gas wells. Recently, calls for stricter regulations on the oil and gas industry have been incited in regards to this. However, coal mines are somehow not included in this call to reduce climate impact due to a lack of data. Now with this new report, hopefully, this will change.
If we thought the coal industry was bad before, now it just got worse! Coal is more polluting than we thought and it should face stronger governance for the wellbeing of the planet and humanity. Governments should begin accounting for emissions from producing coal in addition to the emissions that result from using it to generate electricity.
Dave Jones, an analyst at the climate thinktank Sandbag, said:
Having such high-profile global research from the IEA showing such a big impact should help shock policymakers into addressing coalmine methane.
The problem is, capturing emissions from coal mines is technically tricky because the concentration of the gas being released is usually very low. In comparison with oil wells where the concentrations are very high, and it’s easier to capture it and sell it to manufacturers. Because of this, the IEA believes the situation is not expected to improve any time before 2040.
The IEA said:
The lower the concentration of methane, the more technically and economically difficult it is to abate.
Overall, the report found that China is the most significant source of coal mine emissions, followed by Russia, America, India, and Australia. Deep and older coal seems to contain more methane than new and shallow ones, which is why China is the top-emitting country. It has lots of coal mines well over 100 meters deep.
