The UK’s latest hydrocarbon policy is not climate friendly | Mint - Mint
The UK’s latest hydrocarbon policy is not climate friendly | Mint
It takes astonishing mental gymnastics to believe that increasing production of fossil fuels is good for the climate. But that’s the message British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is selling with his approval of 100 new North Sea oil and gas licences. Speaking to broadcasters while visiting Scotland, Sunak claimed that drilling for more oil and gas is “entirely consistent with our plan to get to net zero" and that producing such energy domestically saves “two, three, four times the amount of carbon emissions." He failed to mention that the vast majority of emissions from oil and gas comes when you actually burn the stuff and that Britain gets about 77% of its gas imports via pipeline from Norway, which is less than half the carbon intensity of domestically produced gas.
Related Knowledge Center: Methane
As the production of natural gas from shale fields has expanded, so have methane emissions. U.S. methane emissions grew 27 percent from 1990 to 2009, according to the Energy Information Administration. Methane contributes about 10 percent of all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions and is 25 times more potent a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.