Let's hope AI doesn't soon go from tracking industrial gas leaks to… personal leaks too..
Last year the US, EU and China each pledged their efforts to beef up monitoring and reporting of methane leaks to crack down on rogue emissions. That brought us to more than 150 nations and 50 of the world's largest oil and gas producers committing to reduce methane 30% by the end of the decade as part of the Global Methane Pledge. Unfortunately, since then there really hasn't been much reduction nor action from the same parties.
But what is Methane?
- Methane is an invisible gas that happens to be the primary component of fossil gas.
- It is more than 80 times worse for the environment than carbon dioxide during its first 20 years in the atmosphere.
- Methane is also often mentioned in conversations surrounding food waste and…cow farts… but that's for another week's discussion.
What is Google & the EDF Doing About it?
Recently, the Environmental Defense Fund found that emissions from US oil and gas operations were 60% higher than they had originally thought, and new evidence suggests methane from global oil and gas operations are 30% higher than what was reported to the UN during the Paris Agreement. To combat this and attempt to spur further action, the EDF, Google, and SpaceX have joined forces with their varying capabilities. Utilizing artificial intelligence, satellite imagery, and data mapping they will be able to identify releases of methane, the machinery prone to leaks, and trace the emissions back to their source. Their hope is by providing more specific details on said leaks, companies and governments will finally get the ball moving on keeping up with their commitments.
What does this mean for us and the future of AI?
I'd be doing no justice if I didn't stress that methane releases from fossil fuels continue to go severly underreported. And stopping releases of methane from fossil fuels is widely understood to be one of the cheapest, fastest, and easiest ways to curb global warming in the short term, buying us time to make the larger changes needed to avert irreversible climate harm. If we are being honest, satellite technology for identifying methane leaks has been available for years, but has repeatedly fallen on the deaf ears of ignorant leaders.
Here's a hilarious example:
Petroleos Mexicanos, the state-owned energy giant known as Pemex, have pushed back on widely accepted science and peer-reviewed reports that documented leaks, arguing researchers mistook nitrogen or water vapor for methane in satellite data.
Collective action shouldn't be underestimated, keep an eye out for imagery of leaks circulating around social media or your local news outlets and call on your local stakeholders to take action if you can. And as for artificial intelligence, we're keen to see how its development and use cases can continue to be used to make seemingly unnaproachable climate action easier and more actionable. As if the chart below wasn't clear enough that we need to do something now.
As always, we appreciate you tuning in to the Wasteman Weekly
