methane emissions

Nature Communications

The oil and gas (O&amp;G) sector represents a large source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions globally. However, estimates of O&amp;G emissions rely upon bottom-up approaches, and are rarely evaluated through atmospheric measurements. Here, we use aircraft measurements over the Canadian oil sands (OS) to derive the first top-down, measurement-based determination of the their annual CO 2 emissions and intensities. The results indicate that CO 2 emission intensities for OS facilities are 13–123% larger than those estimated using publically available data. This leads to 64% higher annual GHG emissions from surface mining operations, and 30% higher overall OS GHG emissions (17 Mt) compared to that reported by industry, despite emissions reporting which uses the most up to date and recommended bottom-up approaches. Given the similarity in bottom-up reporting methods across the entire O&amp;G sector, these results suggest that O&amp;G CO 2 emissions inventory data may be more uncertain than previously considered.

Measured Canadian oil sands CO2 emissions are higher than estimates made using internationally recommended methods