The central Asian country has the worst rate of climate-heating ‘super-emitter’ events in the world
In early May, the Guardian revealed that
caused more global heating in 2022 than the entire carbon emissions of the UK. Emissions of the gas were “mind-boggling” and an “infuriating” problem that should be easy to fix, experts said.
“Pumping gas out of the ground and immediately releasing it into the air is about as clever as driving a car over a cliff,” said Prof Euan Nisbet of Royal Holloway, University of London, a member of the scientific oversight committee of the UN International Methane Emissions Observatory . “Kerry will deserve much credit if the US can help Turkmenistan rapidly cut its methane emissions.”
Manfredi Caltagirone, head of Imeo, told the Guardian: “Reducing methane emissions is key to reaching the objective of the Paris Agreement. Turkmenistan is an important country of focus for global actions on methane emissions, but so are other major emitting countries such as Russia, US, Iran, Iraq, China, Libya, Algeria, Venezuela and Canada.”
Imeo, hosted by the UN Environment Programme, is creating a global dataset of verified methane emissions that will be reported to countries to enable them to take targeted action and then made public.