Global Methane Initiative

Last updated
Global Methane Initiative (GMI)
Formation16 November 2004 (2004-11-16)
Headquarters1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20460 USA
Janet McCabe, chair
Parent organization
United States Environmental Protection Agency [1]
Affiliations United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, European Commission, U.S. Department of Energy
Website globalmethane.org
Formerly called
Methane to Markets Partnership

The Global Methane Initiative (GMI) is a voluntary, international partnership that brings together national governments, private sector entities, development banks, NGOs and other interested stakeholders in a collaborative effort to reduce methane gas emissions and advance methane recovery and use as a clean energy source. [2] National governments are encouraged to join GMI as Partner Countries, while other non-State organizations may join GMI's extensive Project Network. As a public-private initiative, GMI creates an international platform to build capacity, development methane abatement strategies, engage in technology transfer, and remove political and economic barriers to project development for emissions reduction.

Contents

The initiative currently focuses on five sectors, which are known sources of anthropogenic methane emissions: agriculture, coal mining, municipal solid waste, municipal wastewater, and oil and gas systems. [3]

Through international cooperation, GMI seeks to reduce global methane emissions, the second largest contributor to atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases, in order to enhance economic growth, promote energy security, improve the environment, and reduce greenhouse gases. Other expected benefits include improving mine safety, reducing waste, and improving local air quality.

History and Organization

The partnership initiative known as GMI, began as the "Methane to Markets Partnership" launched during the George W. Bush Administration in November 2004. The original partnership was formed at a Ministerial Meeting in Washington, D.C. when 14 national governments formally committed to reduce methane emissions from key sectors. [4] In 2004, the U.S. pledged US$53 million over an initial five-year period.

The partnership assumed a new name—the Global Methane Initiative (GMI) -- under the Obama Administration, in 2010, when the U.S. pledged an additional US$50 million to support GMI. The scope of GMI activities has since expanded into other sectors. [5]

GMI brings together state and non-state actors in a collaborative public-private partnership. GMI is the only international effort to specifically target methane abatement, recovery and use by focusing on five key sectors of anthropogenic emissions: agriculture, coal mines, municipal solid waste, municipal wastewater, and oil and gas systems. The Initiative complements other international agreements to reduce greenhouse gas emissions such as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

GMI's Steering Committee guides the work and activities of the partnership on a broad level. The Steering Committee is supported by the Secretariat—also known as the Administrative Support Group (ASG), which is housed at the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

GMI directs five technical sector subcommittees: the Agricultural Subcommittee; Coal Mines Subcommittee; Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) Subcommittee; Municipal Wastewater Subcommittee; and Oil and Gas Subcommittee. The 5 subcommittees guide GMI's sector-specific activities and promote GMI's methane abatement and recovery strategies among the Partner Countries and Project Network members. Each subcommittee has developed an action plan to coordinate and implement GMI activities.

Subcommittees

Agriculture Subcommittee: The agricultural sector is one of the key sectors of focus for GMI. [6] The partnership focuses on mitigating methane emitted during the decomposition of livestock manure and the organic components in agro-industrial wastewater. The subcommittee works with members of the international community to install anaerobic digestion systems and biogas production technology in agricultural regions around the world. Anaerobic digesters turn livestock and agro-industrial waste—otherwise a large source of methane emissions—into biogas for use on farms or within the local community.

Coal Mines Subcommittee: Methane is emitted from both underground and surface coal mining operations, including both active and abandoned mines. [7] Methane is also emitted from post-mining activities such as processing, storage and transportation. The GMI Coal Mines Subcommittee seeks to development coal mine methane (CMM) projects to advance methane recovery and use at coal mines.

Municipal Solid Waste Subcommittee: Methane is emitted from municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills around the world, although opportunities exist to reduce methane emissions by collecting landfill gas containing methane and converting it into a source of fuel. [8] Methane emissions from landfills can also be reduced through better waste management, such as modifying waste collection practices. The MSW Subcommittee works with GMI members to develop climate-friendly MSW solutions.

Municipal Wastewater Subcommittee: The Municipal Wastewater Subcommittee was launched in October 2011, making it GMI's newest sector-specific subcommittee. [9] Within the wastewater sector, methane is produced when organic matter in wastewater decomposes. Depending on management practices, methane is emitted during the collection, handling and treatment of wastewater. The Municipal Wastewater Subcommittee works with GMI partners to develop and employ management practices that reduce the amount of methane emitted from wastewater operations.

Oil and Gas Subcommittee: Methane is emitted from oil and gas systems during both normal operations and systems disruption. [10] Methane losses from oil and gas systems account for more than 20 percent of total methane emissions worldwide. [5] The amount of methane emitted from a facility depends on equipment type and condition, maintenance procedures and the frequency of maintenance, and operations at the facility under consideration. The subcommittee works with project members to reduce methane emissions from oil and gas activities.

Membership

The initiative intends to pursue its goals through collaboration among developed countries, developing countries, and countries with economies in transition—along with participation from the private sector, development banks, and other governmental and non-governmental organizations.

On 16 November 2004, 14 countries launched the original initiative by signing the Terms of Reference document that outlines the initiative's goals, organization, and functions. As of February 2015, 41 countries and the European Commission have joined the initiative. [11] GMI Partner Countries together contribute approximately 70 percent of the world's anthropogenic methane emissions. Through GMI, cumulative methane emission reductions have totalled more than 159 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MMTCO2e).

* Founding partner from 2004

Project Examples

Gas Cogeneration Project in Poland: In 2011, GMI funded a feasibility study showing that it was economically feasible to extract methane from the abandoned Zory Coal Mine in Poland for conversion to liquefied natural gas. [12] The report estimated that the project could eliminate 490,000 billion [cubic metre|cubic meters] in methane emissions annually. Based on these findings, a 2-megawatt combined heat and power cogeneration unit was installed. The plant is fuelled with gas extracted from the abandoned mine. The power and thermal energy generated at the plant produces ~46,500 kilowatt-hours of energy per day—enough to power more than 11,000 households. [5]

Waste Management in Nigeria: In 2011, GMI awarded a grant to the Nigerian Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) for studies evaluating the feasibility of capturing landfill gas from the Abule Egba and Solous Landfills. Based on their findings, LAWMA developed a landfill gas energy project, which provides a reliable source of electricity to local residents. [5]

Technology Examples

EPOD: Westgen's EPOD technology provides cost effective instrument air to remote well-sites to eliminate methane venting from pneumatic devices, while reducing capital costs, reducing operating costs, improving reliability and generating carbon credits for oil and gas producers. We believe that Canada can lead the industry in responsible energy development – changing how the industry is viewed worldwide and finding innovative ways to continue to grow in a sustainable and environmentally conscious way. Westgen's mission is to develop technologies behind responsible energy development by reducing environmental impact and improving efficiencies in design. [13]


Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Biogas</span> Gases produced by decomposing organic matter

Biogas is a gaseous renewable energy source produced from raw materials such as agricultural waste, manure, municipal waste, plant material, sewage, green waste, wastewater, and food waste. Biogas is produced by anaerobic digestion with anaerobic organisms or methanogens inside an anaerobic digester, biodigester or a bioreactor. The gas composition is primarily methane and carbon dioxide and may have small amounts of hydrogen sulfide, moisture and siloxanes. The methane can be combusted or oxidized with oxygen. This energy release allows biogas to be used as a fuel; it can be used in fuel cells and for heating purpose, such as in cooking. It can also be used in a gas engine to convert the energy in the gas into electricity and heat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Waste management</span> Activities and actions required to manage waste from its source to its final disposal

Waste management or waste disposal includes the processes and actions required to manage waste from its inception to its final disposal. This includes the collection, transport, treatment, and disposal of waste, together with monitoring and regulation of the waste management process and waste-related laws, technologies, and economic mechanisms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Incineration</span> Waste treatment process

Incineration is a waste treatment process that involves the combustion of substances contained in waste materials. Industrial plants for waste incineration are commonly referred to as waste-to-energy facilities. Incineration and other high-temperature waste treatment systems are described as "thermal treatment". Incineration of waste materials converts the waste into ash, flue gas and heat. The ash is mostly formed by the inorganic constituents of the waste and may take the form of solid lumps or particulates carried by the flue gas. The flue gases must be cleaned of gaseous and particulate pollutants before they are dispersed into the atmosphere. In some cases, the heat that is generated by incineration can be used to generate electric power.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gasification</span> Form of energy conversion

Gasification is a process that converts biomass- or fossil fuel-based carbonaceous materials into gases, including as the largest fractions: nitrogen (N2), carbon monoxide (CO), hydrogen (H2), and carbon dioxide (CO2). This is achieved by reacting the feedstock material at high temperatures (typically >700 °C), without combustion, via controlling the amount of oxygen and/or steam present in the reaction. The resulting gas mixture is called syngas (from synthesis gas) or producer gas and is itself a fuel due to the flammability of the H2 and CO of which the gas is largely composed. Power can be derived from the subsequent combustion of the resultant gas, and is considered to be a source of renewable energy if the gasified compounds were obtained from biomass feedstock.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Waste-to-energy plant</span> Building that incinerates unusable garbage

A waste-to-energy plant is a waste management facility that combusts wastes to produce electricity. This type of power plant is sometimes called a trash-to-energy, municipal waste incineration, energy recovery, or resource recovery plant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fossil fuel power station</span> Facility that burns fossil fuels to produce electricity

A fossil fuel power station is a thermal power station which burns a fossil fuel, such as coal, oil, or natural gas, to produce electricity. Fossil fuel power stations have machinery to convert the heat energy of combustion into mechanical energy, which then operates an electrical generator. The prime mover may be a steam turbine, a gas turbine or, in small plants, a reciprocating gas engine. All plants use the energy extracted from the expansion of a hot gas, either steam or combustion gases. Although different energy conversion methods exist, all thermal power station conversion methods have their efficiency limited by the Carnot efficiency and therefore produce waste heat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Landfill gas</span> Gaseous fossil fuel

Landfill gas is a mix of different gases created by the action of microorganisms within a landfill as they decompose organic waste, including for example, food waste and paper waste. Landfill gas is approximately forty to sixty percent methane, with the remainder being mostly carbon dioxide. Trace amounts of other volatile organic compounds (VOCs) comprise the remainder (<1%). These trace gases include a large array of species, mainly simple hydrocarbons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Municipal solid waste</span> Type of waste consisting of everyday items discarded by the public

Municipal solid waste (MSW), commonly known as trash or garbage in the United States and rubbish in Britain, is a waste type consisting of everyday items that are discarded by the public. "Garbage" can also refer specifically to food waste, as in a garbage disposal; the two are sometimes collected separately. In the European Union, the semantic definition is 'mixed municipal waste,' given waste code 20 03 01 in the European Waste Catalog. Although the waste may originate from a number of sources that has nothing to do with a municipality, the traditional role of municipalities in collecting and managing these kinds of waste have produced the particular etymology 'municipal.'

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Waste-to-energy</span> Process of generating energy from the primary treatment of waste

Waste-to-energy (WtE) or energy-from-waste (EfW) is the process of generating energy in the form of electricity and/or heat from the primary treatment of waste, or the processing of waste into a fuel source. WtE is a form of energy recovery. Most WtE processes generate electricity and/or heat directly through combustion, or produce a combustible fuel commodity, such as methane, methanol, ethanol or synthetic fuels, often derived from the product syngas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Biodegradable waste</span> Organic matter that can be broken down

Biodegradable waste includes any organic matter in waste which can be broken down into carbon dioxide, water, methane, compost, humus, and simple organic molecules by micro-organisms and other living things by composting, aerobic digestion, anaerobic digestion or similar processes. It mainly includes kitchen waste, ash, soil, dung and other plant matter. In waste management, it also includes some inorganic materials which can be decomposed by bacteria. Such materials include gypsum and its products such as plasterboard and other simple sulfates which can be decomposed by sulfate reducing bacteria to yield hydrogen sulfide in anaerobic land-fill conditions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greenhouse gas emissions</span> Greenhouse gases emitted from human activities

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from human activities intensify the greenhouse effect. This contributes to climate change. Carbon dioxide, from burning fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas, is one of the most important factors in causing climate change. The largest emitters are China followed by the United States. The United States has higher emissions per capita. The main producers fueling the emissions globally are large oil and gas companies. Emissions from human activities have increased atmospheric carbon dioxide by about 50% over pre-industrial levels. The growing levels of emissions have varied, but have been consistent among all greenhouse gases. Emissions in the 2010s averaged 56 billion tons a year, higher than any decade before. Total cumulative emissions from 1870 to 2022 were 703 GtC, of which 484±20 GtC from fossil fuels and industry, and 219±60 GtC from land use change. Land-use change, such as deforestation, caused about 31% of cumulative emissions over 1870–2022, coal 32%, oil 24%, and gas 10%.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greenhouse gas emissions by the United States</span> Climate changing gases from the North American country

The United States produced 5.2 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in 2020, the second largest in the world after greenhouse gas emissions by China and among the countries with the highest greenhouse gas emissions per person. In 2019 China is estimated to have emitted 27% of world GHG, followed by the United States with 11%, then India with 6.6%. In total the United States has emitted a quarter of world GHG, more than any other country. Annual emissions are over 15 tons per person and, amongst the top eight emitters, is the highest country by greenhouse gas emissions per person.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Landfills in the United States</span> American landfills

Municipal solid waste (MSW) – more commonly known as trash or garbage – consists of everyday items people use and then throw away, such as product packaging, grass clippings, furniture, clothing, bottles, food scraps and papers. In 2018, Americans generated about 265.3 million tonnes of waste. In the United States, landfills are regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the states' environmental agencies. Municipal solid waste landfills (MSWLF) are required to be designed to protect the environment from contaminants that may be present in the solid waste stream.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Landfill gas utilization</span> Method of producing electricity

Landfill gas utilization is a process of gathering, processing, and treating the methane or another gas emitted from decomposing garbage to produce electricity, heat, fuels, and various chemical compounds. After fossil fuel and agriculture, landfill gas is the third largest human generated source of methane. Compared to CO2, methane is 25 times more potent as a greenhouse gas. It is important not only to control its emission but, where conditions allow, use it to generate energy, thus offsetting the contribution of two major sources of greenhouse gases towards climate change.

Solid waste policy in the United States is aimed at developing and implementing proper mechanisms to effectively manage solid waste. For solid waste policy to be effective, inputs should come from stakeholders, including citizens, businesses, community-based organizations, non-governmental organizations, government agencies, universities, and other research organizations. These inputs form the basis of policy frameworks that influence solid waste management decisions. In the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulates household, industrial, manufacturing, and commercial solid and hazardous wastes under the 1976 Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). Effective solid waste management is a cooperative effort involving federal, state, regional, and local entities. Thus, the RCRA's Solid Waste program section D encourages the environmental departments of each state to develop comprehensive plans to manage nonhazardous industrial and municipal solid waste.

Brazil has established a strong public policy using Clean Development Mechanism Projects to reduce methane emissions from landfills. An important component of these projects is the sale of avoided emissions by the private market to generate revenue.

The Danish Carbon Fund's (DCF) Lahore Composting Facility project is the first of its kind in Pakistan. It is bringing composting technology to a country where the common practice is by open dumping of waste, as there are no landfills. This project is the first public-private partnership project in Pakistan on a large scale in the area of Municipal Solid Waste Management (MSW).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Climate and Clean Air Coalition to Reduce Short-Lived Climate Pollutants</span>

The Climate and Clean Air Coalition to Reduce Short-Lived Climate Pollutants (CCAC) was launched by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and six countries—Bangladesh, Canada, Ghana, Mexico, Sweden, and the United States—on 16 February 2012. The CCAC aims to catalyze rapid reductions in short-lived climate pollutants to protect human health, agriculture and the environment. To date, more than $90 million has been pledged to the Climate and Clean Air Coalition from Canada, Denmark, the European Commission, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and the United States. The program is managed out of the United Nations Environmental Programme through a Secretariat in Paris, France.

Turkey generates about 30 million tons of solid municipal waste per year; the annual amount of waste generated per capita amounts to about 400 kilograms. According to Waste Atlas, Turkey's waste collection coverage rate is 77%, whereas its unsound waste disposal rate is 69%. While the country has a strong legal framework in terms of laying down common provisions for waste management, the implementation process has been considered slow since the beginning of 1990s.

Increasing methane emissions are a major contributor to the rising concentration of greenhouse gases in Earth's atmosphere, and are responsible for up to one-third of near-term global heating. During 2019, about 60% of methane released globally was from human activities, while natural sources contributed about 40%. Reducing methane emissions by capturing and utilizing the gas can produce simultaneous environmental and economic benefits.

References

  1. "Global Methane Initiative". United States Environmental Protection Agency. Archived from the original on 2015-05-03.
  2. "Global Methane Initiative". Global Methane Initiative. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
  3. "Frequently Asked Questions". Global Methane Initiative. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
  4. "Partnership Accomplishments 2004–2009" (PDF). Global Methane Initiative. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "The U.S. Government's Global Methane Initiative Accomplishments" (PDF). United States Environmental Protection Agency. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-09-08.
  6. "Agriculture Subcommittee". Global Methane Initiative. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
  7. "Coal Mines Subcommittee". Global Methane Initiative. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
  8. "Municipal Solid Waste Subcommittee". Global Methane Initiative. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
  9. "Municipal Wastewater Subcommittee". Global Methane Initiative. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
  10. "Oil and Gas Subcommittee". Global Methane Initiative. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
  11. "Partners". Global Methane Initiative. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
  12. "Gas Cogeneration Project in Poland". Archived from the original on 2015-02-25. Retrieved 2013-08-09.
  13. "Spartan Controls and Westgen Technologies Announce New Strategic Partnership".

38°52′57.3″N76°59′24.7″W / 38.882583°N 76.990194°W / 38.882583; -76.990194