Measuring, Monitoring, Reporting and Verifying Greenhouse Gas Emissions across the International Supply Chain for Natural Gas: International Working Group Joint Statement

(U.S. Department for Energy Security and Net Zero) Public announcement of International Working Group to establish a greenhouse gas supply chain emissions measurement, monitoring, reporting, and verification (MMRV) framework for providing comparable and reliable information to natural gas market participants

The UK is pleased to announce our cooperation with the US, EU Commission, and other international partners to support our shared understanding of greenhouse gas emissions associated with the international supply chain for natural gas.

Reducing methane, carbon dioxide, and other greenhouse gas emissions across the fossil fuel energy value chain is essential for global energy decarbonisation and to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement. However, the lack of comparable and reliable information to characterise the greenhouse gas (GHG) intensity of deliveries of natural gas limits the ability of buyers to demand and suppliers to provide natural gas with a lower GHG profile, hindering market-driven emissions abatement efforts. Therefore, 13 countries, the European Commission and the East Mediterranean Gas Forum have formed a multi-national working group to develop a consensus-based approach for the measurement, monitoring, reporting and verification (MMRV) of GHG emissions across the international supply chain from pre-production through final delivery to enable the provision of comparable and reliable information.

Natural gas producers and exporters, importers and end users, governments, and other key stakeholders have made significant progress towards addressing this challenge through various measurement, reporting and verification protocols at local and international levels. A number of well-established domestic and international emissions reporting approaches already exist, our efforts are aimed at building on these existing approaches. This includes, but is not limited to, the United Nations Environmental Program’s Oil and Gas Methane Partnership 2.0 (OGMP 2.0).

The MMRV Working Group will advance comparability by reviewing and building upon existing standards and protocols to provide a consistent set of technical criteria for reporting emissions and operating data at various levels of data availability. The approach will encourage and prefer measured data over modeled data and estimation of emissions, while balancing economic and technical feasibility. The MMRV Framework will also be technology neutral with respect to approaches for measurement of emissions. These actions will improve the accuracy and representativeness of the reported data. Comparability will be further supported by using transparent and consistent tools for estimating GHG supply chain emissions and data quality from pre-production through final delivery of the natural gas.

To provide comparable and reliable information, the MMRV Working Group will support independent third-party verification of the accuracy and representativeness of the emissions data and the aggregate supply chain GHG emissions intensity. It will also support accreditation to ensure that certifiers are independent of the reporting entity and are technically qualified to conduct reviews.

The MMRV Working Group’s deliberations and recommendations are informed by a diverse group of global and local industry, environmental and technical stakeholders with broad expertise and technical knowledge related to MMRV and the oil and natural gas industry. With input from these stakeholders, the international MMRV Working Group will work collaboratively through 2024 to develop, where appropriate, guidance, protocols, and tools for voluntary use in natural gas markets. The MMRV Working Group may expand in the future to include additional hydrocarbons.

The MMRV Working Group will address methodological aspects of MMRV and will not agree to or prescribe performance-based emission reduction targets. Participants in the MMRV Working Group are not committed to, nor restricted from, the use or inclusion of the work products in any regulatory process, policy measures, or commitments.

Excerpt from GTI Energy: GTI Energy is proud to announce its participation in a new International MMRV Working Group aimed at establishing a universal approach for measuring, monitoring, reporting, and verifying (MMRV) greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) across the natural gas supply chain to drive global emissions reductions.

GTI Energy, one of two U.S.-based stakeholders in the working group, will support its efforts by sharing observations, best practices, and lessons learned from its Veritas technical protocols, a GTI Energy-led collaborative which provides an open-source methodology for measuring methane emissions in a transparent, scientifically proven, consistent, and verifiable way.

“We are proud to contribute the invaluable insights we have gained from our Veritas initiative to the international working group,” said Amanda Harmon, Executive Director of Veritas, GTI Energy. “GTI Energy is committed to leverage the power of innovation and collaboration to develop an effective and standardized approach that will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions across the entire natural gas supply chain.”

The International MMRV Working Group, which includes government, industry, and non-governmental stakeholders from several countries, will collaborate with U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to establish an MMRV framework to advance comparable and reliable information about GHG emissions that can be adopted by natural gas producers, transporters, and distributors worldwide. Its efforts will support the U.S. Methane Emissions Reduction Action Plan and the European Union’s provisional agreement to reduce methane gas emissions by mandating high standards for MMRV for the fossil gas, oil, and coal industries.

By reviewing and building upon existing standards and protocols, such as Veritas, the result of the working group’s efforts will be a consistent set of technical criteria for reporting emissions and operating data at various levels of data availability. READ MORE