Progress to date
- In the past quarter, Angola’s oil and gas producer Sonangol and Australian energy company Santos signed up to the Aiming for Zero initiative. They join new supporters in the quarter – CleanAir Engineering Inc., climate tech startup Orbio Earth and energy consultancy Xodus.
- We published the results of OGCI’s flagship Satellite Monitoring Campaign over Kazakhstan, Algeria and Egypt. Read the executive summary here.
- And we held our first working session of Aiming for Zero members at the CERAWeek conference where methane was one of the most discussed topics of the week.
Aiming for Zero Methane Emissions workshop
Our working session for Aiming for Zero members and other stakeholders at CERAWeek’s March conference provided an excellent forum for signatories and supporters to discuss a range of topics related to methane mitigation.
Around 35 participants joined the OGCI-led session, which was moderated by TJ Conway from the Climate Intelligence Program at Rocky Mountain Institute, a Colorado-based clean energy think tank.
Participants discussed collaboration around standards, measurement and mitigation, which are critical to reducing methane emissions and other themes including:
- The importance of satellite monitoring in methane emissions mitigation
- Greater awareness of the opportunities and challenges of methane abatement
- The need to clarify and align on the definition of near zero
- They also noted the influence the initiative has already had in shifting the mindset on methane – in particular its adoption in the text of the Oil & Gas Decarbonization Charter, which was launched at COP28.
Environment Defense Fund launches MethaneSAT
MethaneSAT is the only methane-detecting satellite that sees the whole picture by measuring pollution from millions of small sources around the world. MethaneSAT’s data will be public so that companies, governments and advocates can speed up methane cuts, track progress and hold emitters accountable. It’s the first satellite developed and funded by any environmental non-profit organization and launched in March 4, 2024.
Results of OGCI Satellite Monitoring Campaign
- As in the previous campaign in Iraq in 2021, OGCI worked closely with local operators, sharing data, insights and best practice.
- This helped the operators in Algeria and Kazakhstan quickly eliminate methane plumes with a combined average rate of 3,200 kilograms an hour.
- OGCI is continuing to engage with the local operators by employing a member company led approach to help identify solutions to mitigate the remaining persistent emissions sources.
CERAWeek highlights
The drive to mitigate methane emissions was one of the most discussed topics at OGCI’s CEO roundtable during CERAWeek.
