Press release: Methane emergency emerges alongside the carbon dioxide emergency
SA government and companies must shun fossil gas
14 November 2022:– Fossil Free South Africa joins other activists, scientists and the IMF in urging the South African government and companies to shun fossil (“natural”) gas as a matter of urgency.
This follows the latest of a suite of reports recommending that the world should dramatically decrease its consumption of gas, along with other fossil fuels.
During the COP27 climate talks, underway in Egypt from November 6–18, world governments are reviewing progress on cutting greenhouse gas emissions towards meeting the Paris climate agreement of holding global warming to 1.5C.
The United Nations warned last week that countries’ current pledges to cut emissions put the world on the path for warming of 2.8C by 2100 – way above the close to 1.5C maximum pledge of the Paris Agreement.
“Gas is frequently touted by Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe, and the corporate sector in South Africa, as essential for the country’s energy security and a cleaner option than coal and oil. This is untrue, as the IISD and many scientists have pointed out in recent months,” said David Le Page, coordinator of Fossil Free South Africa (FFSA).
“The course of action for averting a climate catastrophe is clear: we need to reject all fossil fuels, including gas, and move to renewables extremely fast.”
Cutting gas is “quickest short-term climate fix”
The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) says cutting methane emissions is the single fastest way to tackle climate change in the short term because methane is cycled out of the atmosphere far more rapidly than carbon dioxide. .
The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) last week also released a report called “Navigating Energy Transitions: Mapping the road to 1.5C,” investigating how energy systems should change to fulfil the Paris Agreement. This report, described in a News24 article, recommended that countries should shun all new oil and gas projects, and leapfrog these energy sources to renewable energy, specifically solar and wind capacity.
In a previous report crunching the numbers on the latest data from the International Panel on Climate Change, the IISD concluded that the world should decrease its gas and oil consumption by 30% by 2030, to limit warming to 1.5C. Governments, companies and investors all should take note, the IISD stated.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) also notes that, “Reducing methane emissions could lower the stock of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and cut the very scary risks of ‘tipping points’ – when climate change becomes self-perpetuating.”
The IMF graph above shows how methane emissions are compounding the carbon dioxide emergency, and how all greenhouse gases must decline if the world is to have a chance of meeting the targets set in Paris and averting the imminent possible tipping point catastrophe.
“When even the technocrats at the IMF are resorting to terms like ‘scary’, you know we’re close to real disaster,” notes Le Page.
Methane is the primary component of gas. Though much less carbon-intensive than coal when burnt, that “advantage” is nullified by widespread leaks and emissions to the atmosphere during the production, processing, storage, transmission and distribution of natural gas, and the production and processing of crude oil. Methane is also emitted by other human activities including livestock farming and landfills.
Methane surge
Methane is of particular concern as a greenhouse gas because it is at least 80 times as potent as carbon dioxide in the first 20 years after its emission, and global methane emissions have been accelerating in recent years. Another recent study found that cutting short-lived pollutants such as methane could reduce global heating by one half between 2030 and 2050.
Eskom CEO Andre De Ruyter has said that South Africa needs gas, as it moves towards renewables, to ensure its energy security. However, many independent energy analysts have called for accelerated and large-scale provision of wind and photovoltaic power which, they say, is the quickest and cheapest way of addressing the electricity crisis.
United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres’s priorities for this year include stopping all expansion of oil and gas exploration, to help keep global heating under 1.5C, he stated in a speech to the UN General Assembly.
“The COP27 climate talks will once again highlight that there is no more time to waste on fossil fuels,” said Le Page. “We urge the South African government to make us proud and take the lead on rejecting gas, along with coal and oil, on this important platform.”
False narratives on Ukraine war and European fossil gas dependency
The war in Ukraine has highlighted the dependency of European countries on fossil gas. Fossil Free SA has long pointed out that fossil fuels are not just a cause of climate change, but also increase dependency on often unpleasant regimes and make us vulnerable to volatile energy prices. In the short term, the Ukraine crisis has indeed led to some European countries increasing their imports of coal and gas, and in some instances, reopening or expanding use of coal. Fossil fuel advocates justly point to this trend as hypocrisy, especially when some of these same countries are encouraging Africa to decarbonise.
However, the bigger picture is that the Ukraine war seems to have at last taught most of these countries the greater dangers of fossil fuel dependency. The International Energy Agency’s analysis of long-term planning shows the energy crisis caused by Russia’s invasion “is in fact going to accelerate the clean energy transition”, and is adding to the case for avoiding new development of inherently problematic energy sources.
Some further reports and calls for ending fossil gas
Background
This press release builds on FFSA’s September launch of its Climate Reporting Guide for SA Media, which provides important context, information and sources for journalists reporting on the climate crisis.
FFSA is a non-profit organisation and network of South Africans lobbying for rapid decarbonisation, fossil fuel divestment and restorative reinvestment in sustainable energy:
In March 2022, we won our long-standing campaign with students for divestment by the University of Cape Town.
Our #InvestFossilFree campaign calls on South Africa’s top asset managers to give citizen investors the option of fossil-free funds.
In response to widespread and continued government failures to adequately regulate the fossil fuel industry in an accelerating climate emergency, the global divestment movement has expanded to over 1500 institutions with $39,88 trillion in assets under management, including universities and cities around the world. These include Oxford, Cambridge, Yale and Harvard Universities, Ireland, and the cities of New York, London, Paris, Melbourne, Cape Town and eThekwini, amongst many others.