Unexplained leaks in two Russian gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea are spewing out greenhouse gas emissions, raising fears that the disruption could cause a climate calamity - although to what extent is still unclear.
Neither pipeline was in operation, but both contained natural gas - which is largely composed of methane, a potent greenhouse gas that is the second biggest cause of climate change after CO2.
Over a 20-year timeframe, methane has more than 80 times the planet-warming potency of carbon dioxide, and roughly 30 times its potency over 100 years. Scientists say sharp cuts in methane emissions over the next few years will be a vitalJasmin Cooper, a research associate at Imperial College London's Sustainable Gas Institute, said it would be difficult to quantify exactly how much gas was reaching the atmosphere - especially given scarce existing data on leaks from subsea pipelines.
By comparison, the huge Aliso Canyon gas leak in the United States in 2016 spewed around 50 tons of methane per hour at its peak. "So this would be an order of magnitude more," Gauthier said. German non-profit Deutsche Umwelthilfe gave a similar estimate of the pipeline's potential emissions. Stefano Grassi, head of the European Union energy commissioner's cabinet, said Tuesday that the leaks risked becoming "a climate and ecological disaster".
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