Innovative advanced clean technology efforts like methane mitigation and direct air capture (DAC) are crucial to reaching the level of emissions reductions necessary to stave off the most damaging impacts of climate change.

The Challenge

It is going to take more than transitions in our energy sector to reach the level of emissions reductions necessary to stave off the most damaging impacts of climate change. Innovative advanced clean technology efforts like methane mitigation and direct air capture (DAC) are crucial.   

Methane is one of the most potent greenhouse gases (GHGs). One ton of methane in the atmosphere has over 80 times the warming impact of a ton of CO2 in the short term. Methane emissions occur in many sectors, but the oil and gas sector is one of the largest sources. Methane is emitted from oil and gas infrastructure like wells, compressor stations, and processing plants alongside other dangerous compounds, such as the pollutants that form smog and soot—and carcinogens like benzene, formaldehyde, and acetaldehyde. Across the country, nearly 14 million people living in one of 236 counties in 21 states face a cancer risk greater than the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) one-in-a-million threshold because of oil and gas alone. Oil and gas sector air pollution is particularly harmful to workers that serve in that industry, who face serious long term health challenges as a result of their labor.