Fossil Fuels

"Oil and gas accounts for an estimated 20 to 25 percent of anthropogenic methane. [This article] suggests that the sector could achieve a 40 percent reduction in sectoral emissions by 2030 and a 73 percent reduction by 2050. The oil and gas industry emits “fugitive methane” through venting, leaks, and incomplete combustion during flaring."  - McKinsey Sustainability

Coal Mining

~10-15%

"Coal mining produces an estimated 10 to 15 percent of anthropogenic methane. ... the sector has the potential to achieve a 2 percent reduction in its methane emissions by 2030 and a 13 percent reduction by 2050. The vast majority of coal-mine-methane (CMM) emissions emanate from either working or abandoned deep mines. There is a significant challenge in measuring and recovering these emissions. However, established technologies can capture CMM and use it to generate power. The investment case is probably strongest for companies in China, which account for about 70 percent of CMM emissions and which have invested in coal gasification for the industrial sector."  - McKinsey Sustainability

Natural Gas

~10-15%

"Since methane is the primary constituent of natural gas, these emissions are an untapped source of value, contingent on the necessary infrastructure being put in place. Moreover, there are numerous options to prevent losses in upstream production, including LDAR, equipment electrification or replacement, instrument air systems, and vapor-recovery units." - McKinsey Sustainability

Oil

~10%

Waste

Waste Water

~7-10%

"The wastewater sector now emits an estimated 7 to 10 percent of anthropogenic methane. These emissions could be reduced 27 percent by 2030 and 77 percent by 2050. Wastewater emits methane from the breakdown of organic material in wastewater streams. The primary method of reducing emissions would be to build out modern sanitation infrastructure and technology. However, capital costs and policy requirements would be a significant burden in many countries. Where there is funding and access to technology, alternative abatement approaches could include the use of covered lagoons or the application of microalgae to prevent gas formation. Biosolids responsible for producing methane could be collected and sold as fertilizer or bioenergy." - McKinsey Sustainability

Click the Toilets button to learn more about toilet options including compost toilets, and many more.

Solid Waste

~7-10%

"Accounting for an estimated 7 to 10 percent of anthropogenic methane, the solid-waste sector could achieve a 39 percent reduction in sectoral emissions by 2030 and a 91 percent reduction by 2050. The majority of methane emissions from waste originates in landfills and open dumps, where anaerobic organic material generates methane over time. Through biogas markets and other incentives, authorities could capture these emissions and either sell the methane as renewable natural gas or use it in the production of fertilizer. However, revenues may not be sufficient to offset the costs."  - McKinsey Sustainability

Click the Zero Waste button to learn more about reducing our waste, including zero-waste shops, repair places, different types of libraries, zero-waste and circular economy organizations. These zero waste and related pages offer maps, grant information, and more.

Europe

1. Reduce Livestock Farming "Europe's biggest source of methane emissions comes from agriculture, predominantly digestion in grazing animals and from livestock manure." - Reuters

South America

Argentina

1. Landfills "In Buenos Aires alone, landfill accounted for half of urban emissions. To give an idea of the scale, that one Argentine landfill emits about 10% of the methane emitted by the largest oil-producing region (the Permian basin) in the U.S."  - Reuters

Venezuela 

1. Oil & Gas Sector Plug fossil fuel industry infrastructure. This includes abandoned wells and leaking infrastructure such as pipelines.

Resources

International

• DeSmog’s Agribusiness Database "find a record of companies and organisations’ current messaging on climate change, lobbying around climate action, and histories of climate science denial."

• DeSmog’s Climate Disinformation Database "browse our extensive research on the individuals and organizations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming."

• Global Oil & Gas Exit List "is the most comprehensive publicly available database on the oil & gas industry. GOGEL 2023 covers 1,623 companies active in the upstream, midstream or gas-fired power sector. Companies listed on GOGEL account for 95% of global oil and gas production. It is tailored to the needs of financial institutions looking to phase out fossil fuels. GOGEL's forward-looking data on companies’ expansion plans makes it easy to assess the credibility of transition strategies and enables its users to take the right steps to become responsible climate actors."

Europe

UK

• DeSmog’s Air Pollution Lobbying Database "find out about organisations opposing or seeking to weaken planned air quality measures in the UK’s most polluted cities, including Clean Air Zones and London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone."

North America

• Portal Energético para América Latina "GEM’s Latin America Energy Portal offers a region-wide perspective on energy infrastructure in Latin America and the Caribbean, through interactive maps and thousands of wiki pages. The Portal synthesizes GEM’s research on nearly 5,000 projects throughout the region, including coal- and gas-fired power plants, oil and gas pipelines, oil and gas extraction sites, LNG terminals, solar farms, wind farms, coal terminals, coal mines and steel plants that meet a predetermined size threshold. Additional resources include country energy profiles, statistical data, reports, and links to organizations working towards a sustainable energy transition in Latin America and the Caribbean. ... 

To learn about the various components of each GEM tracker, read About GEM’s Trackers. To receive notifications on this project, please sign up for our mailing list. If you have questions about this project, please contact the Project Manager, Gregor Clark."

USA

• DeSmog’s Koch Network Database "browse our extensive research on the individuals and organizations linked to Charles Koch or other members of the Koch family, Koch Industries, and related entities."

Texas

• Commission Shift: Report Portal "will forward your complaint to the Railroad Commission, but only Commission Shift will have your identifying information. We will not share it with anyone."

Maps & Trackers

Use these to better understand your local sources of methane pollution, which can give you a starting point in how to reduce or eliminate them.

Organizations & Programs

The following are currently working to reduce methane emissions. 

International

• Climate Defenders "is a multigenerational and multiracial action home rising up against the oil industry destroying our planet and our communities.
  
  For generations, oil CEOs and the bank executives that finance them have prioritized profits over the well-being of our planet and its people. They pollute our air, poison our water, and dump toxins into our neighborhoods.

As Climate Defenders, we are fighting to end the fossil fuel industry and build a new future with good jobs, clean water, safe air, and a better future for our families. Join us!"

• DeSmog "was founded in January 2006 to clear the PR pollution that is clouding the science and solutions to climate change. Our team quickly became the world’s number one source for accurate, fact-based information regarding global warming misinformation campaigns.
  
  DeSmog continues to expand our focus to other areas where misinformation has eroded public understanding and political action to address critical societal challenges, such as meeting the world’s energy needs, confronting environmental racism, and ensuring a just transition to a sustainable economic paradigm.
  
  Through hard-hitting investigative journalism, in-depth research, and collaborations with other investigative outlets, DeSmog works tirelessly to provide climate accountability and serve as an antidote to science denial and disinformation. Supported by science and dedicated to equity, our team is helping to clear the way for clean energy solutions, environmental justice, and the preservation of democracy.
  
  Now a global organization, with reporters and researchers spanning North and South America, the UK, Europe, Africa, and beyond, the DeSmog team works to expose corporate misinformation from major fossil fuel interests, including the likes of ExxonMobil, Koch Industries, and others with a documented history of undermining climate science and action. We conduct original research and reporting on a range of issues in the broader energy policy dialogue. In many cases, we find the same tactics, and many of the same people, that DeSmog first began exposing in our early research into the climate denial industry, are now sitting alongside a new breed of lobbyist, downplaying potential solutions to climate change, and promoting questionable “silver-bullet” solutions.
  
  Our research databases provide vital information on over 800 organizations and individuals responsible for spreading misinformation on a range of energy and science topics. We first started reporting on Koch Industries’ funding of climate denial in 2007, and continue to track Koch-linked groups and operatives in our Koch Network Database. In 2020, we added two new databases — the Air Pollution Lobbying Database and Agribusiness Database — showing how vested interests are working to slow action across multiple sectors."

• Global Gas Flaring Reduction Partnership (GGFR) "Flaring is a direct source of methane emissions as flares do not completely combust all the hydrocarbons in the gas they burn (View our flaring explained guide). However, how much flaring contributes to methane emissions is poorly understood."

North America

Canada

• The Orphan Well Association "is an industry-funded collaboration among the Alberta Government, provincial regulators and oil and gas producers to work toward a common goal: protecting public safety and managing the environmental risks of oil and gas properties that do not have a legally or financially responsible party that can be held accountable. These properties are known as “orphans.” The mandate of the OWA is to safely and efficiently decommission orphan oil and gas wells, pipelines, production facilities and restore the land as close to its original state as possible." 

Alberta

• Alberta Energy Regulator: Orphan Energy Sites "Wells, pipelines, and facilities are plugged and decommissioned (“abandoned”) when companies decide to stop using them for oil and gas development. In Alberta, companies are responsible for cleaning up their sites when the sites have reached the end of their productive life and returning the land to a natural state (known as “reclamation”). Doing this job properly is often costly.
  
  If a company goes bankrupt before properly decommissioning its wells, facilities, or pipelines, and reclaiming the associated sites, we take action. We will order anyone who owned a part of the site—known as a “working interest participant”—to carry out this work to properly close the project."

British Columbia

• Orphan Site Reclamation Fund (OSRF) after designating an orphan well the OSFR can be used "to decommission and clean up the site. This provides assurance the site will be restored in accordance with current standards and requirements, and all known contamination risks or hazards have been addressed."

Ontario

• Abandoned Works Program "How to get an abandoned oil or gas well on your property safely plugged."

USA

• BLM is leading the Federal Orphaned Well Program "to remediate orphaned wells on Federal Lands. This multi-agency effort includes DOI Land Management Agencies, the U.S. Forest Service (USDA), the U.S. Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Interstate Oil & Gas Commission Compact. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s (BIL) historic investments will help revitalize local economies and support jobs, while addressing environmental impacts from legacy developments.  

• The Clean Energy States Alliance "is a national, nonprofit coalition of public agencies and organizations working together to advance clean energy.
  
  CESA works with state leaders, federal agencies, industry representatives, and other stakeholders to develop clean energy programs and inclusive renewable energy markets. CESA members—mostly state agencies—include many of the most innovative, successful, and influential public funders of clean energy initiatives in the country."

• Indian Affairs: Orphaned Wells on Tribal Lands "The Indian Energy Service Center coordinates funding and program activities for Tribal orphaned wells that are provided by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act."

• Stop the Money Pipeline "We are a coalition of 230+ organizations working to hold the financial sector accountable for its role in fueling climate chaos and environmental racism.
  
  Join us to help end financing for fossil fuels."

California

• California Department of Conservation: Idle Well Program "​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​In California, an idle well is a well that has not been used for two years or more and has not yet been properly plugged and abandoned (sealed and closed). Plugging and abandonment involves permanently ​sealing the well with a cement plug to isolate the hydrocarbon-bearing formation from water sources and prevent leakage to the surface. If a well is not properly sealed and closed, it may provide a pathway for hydrocarbons or other contaminants to migrate into drinking water or to the surface. Improved reporting shows there are approximately 35,000 wells in California categorized as idle."

• CalGEM Oil and Gas Well Plug and Abandonment Public Works Contracts

Kansas

• The BLM New Mexico encompasses New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, and Kansas with one of the largest oil and gas programs in the Bureau. Employees oversee and manage over 45 million acres of Federal oil, natural gas, and minerals, plus 2 million acres of Native American mineral estate. This area includes the San Juan Basin and Permian Basin, two of the most productive basins in the United States. With one of largest oil and gas programs in the Bureau, BLM New Mexico recognizes its responsibility to monitor, plug, and reclaim abandoned oil and gas wells. The BLM New Mexico strives to conduct timely reclamation that leaves the disturbed site re-contoured and re-vegetated, and will continue to monitor reclamation until the disturbed surface is determined to be successfully reclaimed."

Michigan

• Michigan Orphan Well Program "If you are a landowner, there is no cost to you for the resulting plugging and site restoration. The Orphan Well Fund is supported solely by industry."

New Mexico

• The BLM New Mexico encompasses New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, and Kansas with one of the largest oil and gas programs in the Bureau. Employees oversee and manage over 45 million acres of Federal oil, natural gas, and minerals, plus 2 million acres of Native American mineral estate. This area includes the San Juan Basin and Permian Basin, two of the most productive basins in the United States. With one of largest oil and gas programs in the Bureau, BLM New Mexico recognizes its responsibility to monitor, plug, and reclaim abandoned oil and gas wells. The BLM New Mexico strives to conduct timely reclamation that leaves the disturbed site re-contoured and re-vegetated, and will continue to monitor reclamation until the disturbed surface is determined to be successfully reclaimed."

New York

• The New York Works Well Plugging Initiative (NYWWPI) "began in mid-2013, following approval of the state's budget for the 2013-2014 fiscal year. The initial allocation of $2M for well plugging was established as part of a $40M DEC-wide funding of infrastructure improvements (NYW Infrastructure 2 Fund). These funds created a significant opportunity to address the state's unplugged orphaned and abandoned oil and gas wells, most of which were drilled prior to the existence of the state's oil and gas regulatory program. Additional NYWWPI funding has been provided to the DEC through subsequent state budgetary allocations. The DEC has successfully completed 25 plugging projects totaling 366 wells under the NYWWPI."

North Dakota

• North Dakota Mineral Resources: Oil & Gas Division: Well Plugging "North Dakota has 11,224 plugged wells. These were plugged either due to age, economics, maintenance, environmental and safety risks, or many other factors."

Ohio

• The Orphan Well Program "was established in 1977 to plug abandoned oil and natural gas wells. Ohio’s program is recognized as one of the most well-funded and organized in the nation." Use the links on this page to report orphan wells or request a well plugging on your land.

Oklahoma

• The BLM New Mexico encompasses New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, and Kansas with one of the largest oil and gas programs in the Bureau. Employees oversee and manage over 45 million acres of Federal oil, natural gas, and minerals, plus 2 million acres of Native American mineral estate. This area includes the San Juan Basin and Permian Basin, two of the most productive basins in the United States. With one of largest oil and gas programs in the Bureau, BLM New Mexico recognizes its responsibility to monitor, plug, and reclaim abandoned oil and gas wells. The BLM New Mexico strives to conduct timely reclamation that leaves the disturbed site re-contoured and re-vegetated, and will continue to monitor reclamation until the disturbed surface is determined to be successfully reclaimed."

Pennsylvania

• DEP’s Well Plugging Program "was established to plug oil and gas wells where there is no identifiable responsible party. Since the Well Plugging Program began, DEP has documented over 25,000 abandoned wells and plugged more than 3,000 wells. Plugging priority is determined through site investigations that assign a numeric score based on the abandoned well’s risk. Risks associated with abandoned wells that are considered in the prioritization process include oil leakage into water resources, health and safety issues like methane migrating into homes and private water wells, and fugitive methane emissions being released into the atmosphere. Higher risk wells are plugged before lower risk wells." Department of Environmental Protection: Contacts and Directions Oil and Gas Office Locations

• Orphan or Abandoned Well Plugging Program (OAWP) "Act 13 of 2012 establishes the Marcellus Legacy Fund and allocates funds to the Commonwealth Financing Authority for funding orphan or abandoned well plugging projects using the Orphan or Abandoned Well Plugging Program (OAWP). Pennsylvania has hundreds of thousands of oil and gas wells drilled since 1859. This program provides a mechanism to plug abandoned and orphaned wells that have the potential to cause health, safety or environmental concerns."

Texas

• The BLM New Mexico encompasses New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, and Kansas with one of the largest oil and gas programs in the Bureau. Employees oversee and manage over 45 million acres of Federal oil, natural gas, and minerals, plus 2 million acres of Native American mineral estate. This area includes the San Juan Basin and Permian Basin, two of the most productive basins in the United States. With one of largest oil and gas programs in the Bureau, BLM New Mexico recognizes its responsibility to monitor, plug, and reclaim abandoned oil and gas wells. The BLM New Mexico strives to conduct timely reclamation that leaves the disturbed site re-contoured and re-vegetated, and will continue to monitor reclamation until the disturbed surface is determined to be successfully reclaimed."

• Commission Shift "a watchdog group pushing for reforms to the Texas oil and gas industry oversight."

• RRC: State Managed Well Plugging "Although most oil and gas wells that are no longer productive are plugged by the responsible operators, the Railroad Commission administers a program to plug abandoned oil and gas wells."

Further Reading