Inside Climate News: MethaneSAT Releases First Global Assessment of Methane Climate Pollution

MethaneSAT, the world’s most advanced methane-detecting satellite and first spacecraft owned by an environmental nonprofit, promised to usher in a new era of climate accountability when the device entered Earth’s orbit in 2024. One year later, researchers with the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) lost contact with the $88 million satellite, but not before downloading a trove of data collected over the prior year. Now, an initial assessment of data shows that methane emissions from oil and gas basins worldwide far exceed what is reported in official emissions inventories and fall short of targets set by major companies. Emissions of methane, the leading driver of climate change after carbon dioxide, were 50 percent higher on average than official estimates, including the U.S. EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Inventory. DETAILS.