Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Environment

Gas flaring and venting wastes resources and heats the planet – it must be curbed

FILE - Flares burn off methane and other hydrocarbons at an oil and gas facility in Lenorah, Texas, Oct. 15, 2021. The U.N. Environment Programme said Friday, Nov. 11, that the new Methane Alert and Response System — MARS for short — is intended to help companies act on major emissions sources but also provide data in a transparent and independent way. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File)
‘The UK still flares more than five times as much methane gas as Norway, despite producing roughly half as much oil.’ Photograph: David Goldman/AP

As energy prices remain high across the UK, oil and gas companies are wasting precious resources by burning and releasing methane into the atmosphere. In the North Sea alone, enough gas to supply more than 700,000 average UK homes is lost annually.

Methane is a powerful climate‑warming gas. It is more than 80 times stronger than carbon dioxide in heating the planet, and its release leads to other pollutants that harm public health. This means the threat that wasteful practices, such as venting and flaring, have on our livelihoods goes far beyond monetary costs.

Methane emerged as a priority at Cop26 in Glasgow in 2021. The government supported the creation of the global methane pledge, a commitment to collectively reduce emissions by at least 30% by 2030.

The North Sea Transition Authority has made strong progress to reduce flaring over the last six years. However, the UK still flares more than five times as much methane gas as Norway, despite producing roughly half as much oil.

With the UK in jeopardy of falling behind on the pledge it helped create at Cop26, an amendment to the energy bill would help to rein in this harmful gas. Banning routine flaring and venting of gas by 2025 and introducing additional measures to capture gas lost to leaky pipes could reduce up to 80% of methane emissions from the oil and gas sector in the UK, according to the International Energy Agency.

Banning routine flaring and venting by 2025 is one of 25 key recommendations of the net zero review, Mission Zero, published earlier this year. Let us stop throwing our energy away and get smart about protecting our bills, our health and our future.
Wera Hobhouse MP Liberal Democrat, Alan Brown MP SNP, Caroline Lucas MP Green party, Olivia Blake MP Labour, Rebecca Tremain Head of UK government affairs, Clean Air Task Force

• Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.