MethaneSAT
ENABLING FASTER ACTION
ENABLING
FASTER ACTION
MethaneSAT’s goal is simple: to motivate and enable urgent
action to reduce methane emissions.
Around the world, industry and governments are making
policies and commitments to cut methane emissions.
Investors, gas buyers and the public are focusing
intently on the role methane plays in the global climate
crisis.
The result is an urgent need for free, accurate,
high-resolution quantification and tracking of total
emissions to find and fix leaks faster and document that
progress.
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METHANE EMISSIONS
ARE FAR WORSE
THAN WE THINK
An unprecedented research effort involving hundreds of
scientists and industry experts revealed that methane
emissions across the U.S. oil and gas supply chain were
far greater than government estimates suggested. The
industry faces similar concerns worldwide.
MethaneSAT will locate and quantify methane emissions
from oil and gas operations almost anywhere on Earth and
track progress over time. The free data will enable both
companies and countries to identify, manage and reduce
their emissions, and allow investors, gas buyers and the
public to see and compare results.
Our estimate
13 Mmt per year
Environmental Protection Agency estimate
8.1 Mmt per year
FOSSIL FUELS ARE
A MAIN SOURCE
OF METHANE
The oil and gas industry emits 80 million tonnes of
methane every year.
It is the second largest source of human-caused methane
emissions after agriculture.
Methane emitted
from all human activity
38% are emitted
from oil and gas industry activities
75% reduction possible
with today's technologies
TODAY'S TOOLS
COULD ELIMINATE
MOST EMISSIONS
Our data will help prioritize areas where we can reduce
the most emissions, using efficient and cost-effective
solutions.
MethaneSAT will make it faster and cheaper than ever to
locate, measure and reduce oil and gas methane emissions
almost anywhere on earth.
THE FASTEST WAY TO
CURB CLIMATE CHANGE
MethaneSAT will offer greater sensitivity than any other
satellite, enabling high-precision tracking of emissions
that others can’t see.
It will fill a crucial gap among existing and planned
detection technologies, offering precise measurements on a
global scale.
Read more about MethaneSAT's
technology
METHANESAT WILL
REVEAL EMISSIONS
ACROSS THE GLOBE
MethaneSAT will provide regular monitoring of regions
accounting for at least 80% of global oil and gas
production, measuring emissions over large areas and from
specific sites. It will see concentration differences as
small as three parts per billion and will quantify not
only how much is escaping, but also how fast.
MethaneSAT will also be able to measure methane from
agriculture and other sources.
80%
monitored by MethaneSAT
All regions
of global oil and gas production
M
T
W
T
F
S
S
FROM WEEKS
TO DAYS
MethaneSAT analytics will transform a process that
currently takes scientists weeks and up to months,
delivering actionable data in just days through a new
cloud-based data platform.
ACTING NOW
IS ESSENTIAL
As we hit a record high in methane emissions, every
continent is feeling the impact of climate change,
intensifying floods, droughts and calls for urgent action.
At our current speed
+0.54°C warming
If we slow down methane emissions
+0.27°C warming
2020
2030
2040
2050
WHO WE ARE
MethaneSAT LLC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the
nonprofit Environmental Defense Fund, which has a long
record of working successfully with both businesses and
policymakers to create innovative, science-based
solutions to critical environmental challenges. EDF has
been a leader in methane research, policy and management
practices for over a decade.
URGENT NEED
Beginning in 2012, EDF organized an unprecedented series
of 16 independent studies involving more than 150
academic and industry experts to assess methane
emissions at every stage in the U.S. oil and gas supply
chain. A 2018 synthesis of the work published in Science
found that the U.S. oil and gas industry was emitting at
least 13 million metric tons of methane a year—nearly
60% more than government estimates at the time.
DATA FOR EVERYONE
Along with the satellite, we are flying a
methane-tracking jet called MethaneAIR. Data from these
flights will be used help refine our data analytics and
augment our findings once MethaneSAT is launched.