By Toby McIntosh
The International Methane Emissions Observatory (IMEO) will not release data it collects on major methane emissions worldwide until 45 to 75 days after their detection to allow for consultation with the emitters.
The engagement is by design, but information on the length of the expected disclosure delay has only emerged recently.
Manfredi Caltagirone, who heads IMEO, told EYE that the general public and journalists will see the emissions data between 45 to 75 days after detection of the occurrence. The first disclosures are expected in the second half of next year.
IMEO will be gathering data from a variety of sources, mainly public ones, such as EU satellites, and creating a database. Data on fossil fuel industry has been made the first priority, to be followed by emissions data on other sectors,
After receiving information on particular emissions, IMEO will “notify governments and companies about the emissions, either directly or through partners, so that the responsible entity can take appropriate action,” according to a Nov. 11 press release about IMEO’s Methane Alert and Response System (MARS) initiative.
“If requested,” the 2022 press release says, “MARS partners will provide technical or advisory services such as help in assessing mitigation opportunities.” Details about the process remain limited. For example, the names of “partners” haven’t been disclosed.
Engagement, Not Shaming Is Strategy
“The idea is not to create a shaming tool but rather an engagement one,” Caltagirone told EYE, “while maintaining transparency and scientific rigor.”
The engagement and disclosure process will begin next year.
“MARS detections (and associated information received from companies and countries) will become available starting in the second half of 2023,” Caltagirone said.
IMEO’s “theory of change,” was described in a report released to coincide with the launch of the project in October of 2021. “At the heart” of the strategy “is the need for an independent and trusted entity to integrate these multiple sources of heterogenous data into a coherent and policy-relevant dataset.”
IMEO “will create a data platform designed to collect, integrate, store, analyse and visualize data from the diversity of data streams,” according to the 2021 report. “It will enable meaningful, efficient cross comparisons of data at an inter- and intra-company and national level,” the report says.
IMEO will gather data principally from four streams:
- Reporting from OGMP 2.0, the Oil & Gas Methane Partnership 2.0, a multi-stakeholder initiative launched by the UN Environment Programme and the Climate and Clean Air Coalition,
- scientific studies,
- remote sensing data from satellites, and
- national inventories submitted to the UNFCCC.
