The Climate Risks of Natural Gas: Fugitive Methane Emissions

The document details the calculations used to estimate the CO2-equivalent emissions resulting from natural gas leakage in the United States. Based on 2012 production data and a leakage range of 1% to 9%, the analysis converts methane volume to mass and then to CO2 equivalents, using a potency factor of 34. These results are then compared to the annual emissions of typical 600-megawatt coal power plants to illustrate the climate risk.

• Based on 2012 U.S. natural gas production of 24,057,609 million cubic feet, the estimated range of gas escaping into the atmosphere is between 1% and 9%.
• Methane is identified as being 34 times more potent than carbon dioxide in terms of trapping heat.
• The calculated CO2-equivalent (CO2-e) emissions for the estimated leakage range are 157 million metric tons at a 1% leak rate and 1,414 million metric tons at a 9% leak rate.
• When compared to a typical 600-megawatt coal plant emitting 4.5 million metric tons of CO2 annually, the leakage emissions are equivalent to the output of 35 coal power plants at a 1% leak rate and 314 coal power plants at a 9% leak rate.

APA

Union of Concerned Scientists (2015). The Climate Risks of Natural Gas: Fugitive Methane Emissions. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/attach/2015/03/climate-risks-of-natural-gas-fugitive-methane-emissions_methodology.pdf

Chicago

Union of Concerned Scientists. The Climate Risks of Natural Gas: Fugitive Methane Emissions. 2015. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/attach/2015/03/climate-risks-of-natural-gas-fugitive-methane-emissions_methodology.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Union of Concerned Scientists |title=The Climate Risks of Natural Gas: Fugitive Methane Emissions |date=March 2015 |url=https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/attach/2015/03/climate-risks-of-natural-gas-fugitive-methane-emissions_methodology.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{unionofconcernedscientists2015climate, author = {{Union of Concerned Scientists}}, title = {{The Climate Risks of Natural Gas: Fugitive Methane Emissions}}, institution = {Union of Concerned Scientists}, year = {2015}, month = mar, url = {https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/attach/2015/03/climate-risks-of-natural-gas-fugitive-methane-emissions_methodology.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }