Fueling Change: EU's Opportunity to Curb Flaring Pollution and Protect Millions

The report examines the climate and health impacts of routine gas flaring in 20 countries that export oil and gas to the European Union. It finds that nearly 10 million people live within 5km of active flares in these nations, with Iraq and Nigeria being the most affected. The authors argue that the EU can use its buying power to catalyze flaring reductions by adopting a methane import standard, which would align with the EU's Global Health Strategy and the Global Methane Pledge.

• Nearly 10 million people in 20 oil and gas exporting countries that supply the EU live within 5 kilometers of active flares, with Iraq (3.0 million) and Nigeria (2.5 million) having the highest affected populations.
• Gas flaring releases harmful pollutants including benzene, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds, particulate matter, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which are linked to respiratory issues, premature deaths, pediatric asthma, and adverse birth outcomes such as preterm births and low birth weight.
• The European Parliament has proposed a methane import standard that would extend EU requirements for monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV), leak detection and repair (LDAR), and a ban on routine venting and flaring to imported oil and gas, including a proposed methane intensity target of 0.2% for suppliers.
• In the United States, there is no national ban on routine venting and flaring, although some states like New Mexico and Colorado have implemented such bans or strict limits.
• Iraq is the second largest source of natural gas flaring globally, following Russia, and nearly half of its active flaring occurs in suburban and urban areas.
• Algeria has established several legal measures to curb flaring, including a 2005 tax on flaring sites, a 2019 prohibition of flaring without derogation, and a 2021 Executive Decree setting an annual allowable flaring threshold of 1%.

APA

Binietoglou, I., Feldman, L., Turitto, J., Sosa, Z. A. T., & Patel, H. (2023). Fueling Change: EU's Opportunity to Curb Flaring Pollution and Protect Millions. Clean Air Task Force. https://cdn.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/18145144/fueling-change-eu-opportunity-curb-flaring-pollution.pdf

Chicago

Binietoglou, Ioannis, Lesley Feldman, James Turitto, Zitely A. Tzompa- Sosa, and Heny Patel. Fueling Change: EU's Opportunity to Curb Flaring Pollution and Protect Millions. Clean Air Task Force, 2023. https://cdn.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/18145144/fueling-change-eu-opportunity-curb-flaring-pollution.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Binietoglou |first1=Ioannis |last2=Feldman |first2=Lesley |last3=Turitto |first3=James |last4=Sosa |first4=Zitely A. Tzompa- |last5=Patel |first5=Heny |title=Fueling Change: EU's Opportunity to Curb Flaring Pollution and Protect Millions |publisher=Clean Air Task Force |date=October 2023 |url=https://cdn.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/18145144/fueling-change-eu-opportunity-curb-flaring-pollution.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{binietoglou2023fueling, author = {Binietoglou, Ioannis and Feldman, Lesley and Turitto, James and Sosa, Zitely A. Tzompa- and Patel, Heny}, title = {{Fueling Change: EU's Opportunity to Curb Flaring Pollution and Protect Millions}}, institution = {Clean Air Task Force}, year = {2023}, month = oct, url = {https://cdn.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/18145144/fueling-change-eu-opportunity-curb-flaring-pollution.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }