Calculating Parity Between Gas and Coal Life-cycle Emissions

RMI has developed a calculator to determine the emissions parity between natural gas and coal, highlighting that methane leakage can make gas as damaging to the climate as coal. The briefing argues that the perception of natural gas as a 'cleaner' fuel is often incorrect because even low leakage rates can negate the greenhouse gas benefits of substituting coal with gas.

• Natural gas can have net greenhouse gas emissions on par with coal if methane leakage from equipment, pipelines, or intentional releases like flaring reaches as little as 0.2 percent.
• RMI's calculator demonstrates site-specific parity scenarios: in West Virginia, gas emissions equal coal emissions if the methane leakage rate is 1.4 percent; for Texas Permian gas exported to replace coal in China's Liaoning Province, parity is reached at a leakage rate of just 0.2 percent.
• Methane is estimated to account for 50 percent of the greenhouse gas emissions produced by the oil and gas sector.
• The International Energy Agency (IEA) identifies tackling methane emissions as the most critical measure for oil and gas operators to achieve a total 60 percent reduction in sector emissions by 2030.
• To mitigate methane leakage, the document suggests implementing a public methane data center, utilizing the methane fee in the US Inflation Reduction Act, and forming buyers alliances for low methane certified gas.

APA

RMI (2023). Calculating Parity Between Gas and Coal Life-cycle Emissions. https://rmi.org/resources/calculating-parity-between-gas-and-coal-life-cycle-emissions/

Chicago

RMI. Calculating Parity Between Gas and Coal Life-cycle Emissions. 2023. https://rmi.org/resources/calculating-parity-between-gas-and-coal-life-cycle-emissions/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=RMI |title=Calculating Parity Between Gas and Coal Life-cycle Emissions |date=11 October 2023 |url=https://rmi.org/resources/calculating-parity-between-gas-and-coal-life-cycle-emissions/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{rmi2023calculating, author = {{RMI}}, title = {{Calculating Parity Between Gas and Coal Life-cycle Emissions}}, institution = {RMI}, year = {2023}, month = oct, url = {https://rmi.org/resources/calculating-parity-between-gas-and-coal-life-cycle-emissions/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }