A new report authored by the Progressive Policy Institute’s Paul Bledsoe and environmental economist Clayton Munnings finds that China and other Asian nations are rapidly moving toward natural gas to displace coal — but their efforts will not yield significant climate benefits if they don’t cut imports of high-methane leaking Russian gas. The report, which is the second in a series of papers on natural gas, is entitled “The Role of Natural Gas in Reducing Asia’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions.”
PPI argues Asian countries can reduce coal by substituting cleaner-burning liquefied natural gas (LNG), but must acknowledge that Russian gas piped to China emits higher emissions than Chinese coal. Thus, any pretense by China that using Russian gas reduces its overall emissions is false. This warning comes as Russian President Putin and Chinese President Xi announced a new proposal for a gas pipeline from Russia to China, called the “Power of Siberia 2.”
United States LNG delivered to China has, on average, 30% lower lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions than Chinese coal. The report authors argue that Asia should purchase LNG imports from the U.S. and other lower methane emitting sources, rather than sourcing dirty natural gas from Russia. Current purchases of oil and gas by China, India and other Asian countries are a major source of revenue for the Kremlin’s war on Ukraine.
“Not only are China and India funding Putin’s war machine by purchasing natural gas from the Kremlin,they are also increasing climate emissions, since Russian gas has higher lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions than coal due to massive Russian leaks of methane,” said Paul Bledsoe, Strategic Adviser for the Progressive Policy Institute. “It’s time the global climate community held China, India and other buyers of Russian gas accountable for the huge geopolitical and climate costs of their continuing purchase of Putin’s gas.”
“Asian countries importing gas should purchase liquified natural gas from the United States rather than piped natural gas from Russia based on comparative greenhouse gas emissions alone. This superior climate performance of liquified natural gas will increase if the United States continues to focus on measuring, verifying, and reducing methane emissions,” said Clayton Munnings.
Select key policy recommendations from the report include:
1. Asian governments should phase down and then halt the importation of Russian gas based on climate change, humanitarian, and geopolitical grounds.
2. Asian nations should also suspend and cancel the construction of natural gas pipelines from Russia since they increase lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions and are therefore inconsistent with climate goals.
3. In particular, China should cancel a proposed new gas pipeline from Russia (the so-called “Power of Siberia 2”) given its high lifecycle emissions.
4. Asian nations should construct LNG infrastructure to facilitate imports from countries with lower methane emissions, including the United States.
5. Asian countries that have carbon prices (including China, Japan, and South Korea) should, in time, consider adding a greenhouse gas import tax that regulates natural gas imports based on their lifecycle methane emissions. Carbon prices can and should be redesigned to give priority to low leakage natural gas.
6. Major greenhouse gas emitting Asian countries, especially China and India, who have not already done so should join the U.S., EU, and over 100 countries in the Global Methane Pledge to cut methane emissions from all national sources by 30% by 2030. It is notable that Russia has not joined this Pledge.
7. U.S. lawmakers and regulators (at the federal and state levels) should continue improving management of methane emissions — including measurement, validation, and policy frameworks — to work toward achieving the lowest leakage rates of any gas-producing and gas-exporting country in the world. U.S. regulators should specifically improve measurements of methane emissions by incorporating new methods, including satellites and other airborne measurements. A strong national inventory will bolster the effectiveness of any policy aimed at reducing methane emissions. U.S. regulators should pay special attention to ultra-emitters among oil and gas producers, including small producers and those in the Permian Basin.
Read and download the full report:
Mr. Bledsoe’s first report, published prior to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in December 2021, focused on the European Union’s huge reliance on high-methane emitting Russian gas, which undermines the EU’s climate goals and provides the Kremlin a financial and political upper hand against the EU and its allies. Read the first report here.
Paul Bledsoe is a strategic adviser at the Progressive Policy Institute and a professorial lecturer at American University’s Center for Environmental Policy. He served on the White House Climate Change Task Force under President Clinton, at the U.S. Department of the Interior, as a staff member at the Senate Finance Committee and for several members of the U.S. House of Representatives. Read his full biography here.
Clayton Munnings is a widely published environmental economist with over three dozen scholar articles and policy papers focused on carbon pricing and methane emission policies. He currently serves as Strategic Advisor to the International Emissions Trading Association, Expert to Perspective GmbH’s International Initiative for Development of Article 6 Methodology Tools, and Board Member at Eartshot Now. He operates a consulting firm that provides advice to countries, corporations, and startups abating greenhouse gas emissions through carbon pricing, climate finance, and carbon offsets.
The Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) is a catalyst for policy innovation and political reform based in Washington, D.C., with offices in Brussels and Berlin. Its mission is to create radically pragmatic ideas for moving America beyond ideological and partisan deadlock. Learn more about PPI by visiting progressivepolicy.org.
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