DOI: 10.1080/14693062.2016.1202808
Scopus记录号: 2-s2.0-84978698004
论文题名: Unleakable carbon†
作者: Hendrick M ; F ; , Cleveland S ; , Phillips N ; G
刊名: Climate Policy
ISSN: 1469-3062
EISSN: 1752-7457
出版年: 2017
卷: 17, 期: 8 起始页码: 1057
结束页码: 1064
语种: 英语
英文关键词: carbon accounting
; carbon leakage
; climate change mitigation
; emissions accounting
; emissions reduction
; GHG reporting
Scopus关键词: carbon dioxide
; carbon emission
; climate change
; emission control
; emission inventory
; fossil fuel
; greenhouse gas
; hydrocarbon reserve
; leakage
; methane
; natural gas
; stakeholder
Scopus学科分类: nvironmental Science: General Environmental Science
; Earth and Planetary Sciences: Atmospheric Science
英文摘要: Unleakable carbon, or the uncombusted methane and carbon dioxide associated with fossil fuel systems, constitutes a potentially large and heretofore unrecognized factor in determining use of Earth’s remaining fossil fuel reserves. Advances in extraction technology have encouraged a shift to natural gas, but the advantage of fuel switching depends strongly on mitigating current levels of unleakable carbon, which can be substantial enough to offset any climate benefit relative to oil or coal. To illustrate the potential warming effect of methane emissions associated with utilizable portions of our remaining natural gas reserves, we use recent data published in peer-reviewed journals to roughly estimate the impact of these emissions. We demonstrate that unless unleakable carbon is curtailed, up to 59–81% of our global natural gas reserves must remain underground if we hope to limit warming to 2°C from 2010 to 2050. Successful climate change mitigation depends on improved quantification of current levels of unleakable carbon and a determination of acceptable levels of these emissions within the context of international climate change agreements. Policy relevance It is imperative that companies, investors, and world leaders considering capital expenditures and policies towards continued investment in natural gas fuels do so with a complete understanding of how dependent the ultimate climate benefits are upon increased regulation of unleakable carbon, the uncombusted carbon-based gases associated with fossil fuel systems, otherwise referred to as ‘fugitive’, ‘leaked’, ‘vented’, ‘flared’, or ‘unintended’ emissions. Continued focus on combustion emissions alone, or unburnable carbon, undermines the importance of assessing the full climate impacts of fossil fuels, leading many stakeholders to support near-term mitigation strategies that rely on fuel switching from coal and oil to cleaner burning natural gas. The current lack of transparent accounting of unleakable carbon represents a significant gap in the understanding of what portions of the Earth’s remaining global fossil fuel reserves can be utilized while still limiting global warming to 2°C. Successful climate change mitigation requires that stakeholders confront the issue of both unburnable and unleakable carbon when considering continued investment in and potential expansion of natural gas systems as part of a climate change solution. © 2016 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. Citation statistics:
资源类型: 期刊论文
标识符: http://119.78.100.158/handle/2HF3EXSE/80244
Appears in Collections: 科学计划与规划
There are no files associated with this item.
作者单位: Department of Earth and Environment, Boston University, Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA, United States; Ceres, Inc., 99 Chauncy Street, Boston, MA, United States
Recommended Citation:
Hendrick M,F,, Cleveland S,et al. Unleakable carbon†[J]. Climate Policy,2017-01-01,17(8)