AQESHOW - Abstract

Abstract Information :

The Environment Agency recognises the importance of cutting methane emissions and has developed a methane action plan setting out the work we are doing and the challenges we face. We regulate several sectors that emit methane, for example the waste and energy sectors, but the regulatory picture is complex, and, for example, we do not regulate emissions from crop fed anaerobic digestion plants or leaks from the natural gas transmission pipeline. There also are subsectors where we do not regulate methane emissions at all, in particular, dairy and beef farming. The nature and scale of methane emissions varies between the regulated sectors.

Methane is not a traditional air quality pollutant and there are no emission limit values, air quality standards or an established cost of harm. Existing regulatory regimes have often historically been based on safety concerns over methane as an explosion risk rather than the release of methane as a greenhouse gas or the links between methane and low-level ozone formation.

There are broadly two types of methane monitoring that we are currently focussing on, leak detection and repair and flux quantification. We have been undertaking research on methane quantification methods, with most of the work taking place on landfills which contribution most to methane emissions from the facilities we regulate. Developing methane quantification is a key area of future work which has the potential to improve reporting of emissions and may also provide an opportunity to regulate directly against measured methane emissions by setting gas recovery performance standards.