To meet the objectives of the Paris Agreement, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has recommended reducing methane emissions by at least 30% by 2030. In the next 20 years, eliminating 1,000 coal plants would have the same climatic benefit as reducing world oil and gas methane emissions by 45%.
However, it would be very impossible to plug the sources of emissions without solid data. The International Methane Emissions Observatory (IMEO) was established by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in part because of this. It is intended to aid governments in lowering emissions, beginning in the energy industry.
In our conversation with Manfredi Caltagirone, the director of IMEO, we discussed UNEP's most recent program, the Methane Alert and Response System (MARS), and how it is bringing a new level of precision and openness to the worldwide effort to limit methane emissions.