By Toby McIntosh
The UN Environmental Programme is trying to make arrangements to work with Turkmenistan on its methane emissions, according to a UNEP spokesman.
The effort to make contact comes against an unusual backdrop.
Almost 38 percent of all the methane emission episodes identified by UNEP occurred in Turkmenistan. But UNEP’s flagship methane project, while engaging with many other countries about their emissions, has never notified Turkmenistan about its emissions.
Meanwhile, others appear to be having some success working with Turkmenistan on methane. The US State Department in an April 16 statement revealed, “Turkmenistan announced it is currently drafting new legislation intended to reduce methane emissions.”
Readers: For notification of new postings please sign up for free in the right column. Follow EYE on Twitter @tobyjmcintosh. Or follow Eye on Global Transparency via LinkedIn.
UNEP Offers Reasons for Not Contacting Turkmenistan
The UNEP News Desk first gave a multiple choice answer when asked by Eye on Global Transparency about the dearth of notifications to Turkmenistan, but later said that UNEP is “currently in communication with the government of Turkmenistan regarding its engagement with MARS.”
MARS is the acronym for the Methane Alert and Response System (MARS), run by the International Methane Emissions Observatory (IMEO) at UNEP. Engagement with emitters to help them to reduce emissions is a key strategy for the MARS project. MARS has reached out to emitters and governments in many other countries, but not to Turkmenistan, according to data published since early December.
As of April 5, there were 2,927 emissions recorded in the MARS database, all from satellite sources. MARS contacted authorities about the emissions about 7 percent of the time (197 instances). IMEO has documented 1,107 emission episodes from Turkmenistan, more than from any other country, but the IMEO data indicates no notifications were sent. (See previous EYE article.)
Eye on Global Transparency on April 5 asked about lack of notifications to Turkmenistan emissions. UNEP’s press office wrote back on April 22 with four reasons:
- “MARS notifications are not necessarily sent for all detections of methane.”
- The resolution of the images is not high enough resolution to identify the facility responsible.
- A contact point within the relevant government has not been nominated by that government.
- The plume identified is more than 2-3 weeks old.
UNEP did not say which explanation was most prevalent, although only the lack of a contact point would seem to explain the complete absence of IMEO notifications.
EYE asked April 23, “Does UNEP not have a contact point in Turkmenistan?”
UNEP’s News Desk on April 24 replied, “IMEO is currently in communication with the government of Turkmenistan regarding its engagement with MARS.”
So efforts apparently are underway to arrange a path for engagement.
According to an April 23 posting on X by IMEO, the UN agency was “Pleased to welcome a #Turkmenistan delegation, including Deputy Prime Minister Batyr Amanov, for a briefing on data-driven tools to #CutMethane.”
International Efforts on Methane With Turkmenistan
In the meantime, initiatives by others to work with Turkmenistan on its methane emissions have been underway.
These were acknowledged by the head of IMEO, Manfredi Caltagirone, quoted in The Guardian in June of 2023. The Guardian had earlier reported on massive emissions from Turkmenistan and in June was writing about two initiatives on methane announced by the president of Turkmenistan, Serdar Berdimuhamedow.
“It is very encouraging that a global effort is under way to assist Turkmenistan to mitigate its methane emissions, and that local authorities are responsive,” Caltagirone told The Guardian. “But after the announcements, the real work starts to actually cut emissions,” he continued. “Operators in Turkmenistan need to perform measurements on each of their assets, report transparently and mitigate effectively.”
The Guardian further said, “Caltagirone said Imeo and the UN office in Turkmenistan were ready to step up their support.”
The apparent lack of connection between UNEP and Turkmenistan on methane comes despite working together on other environmental issues. On Nov. 13, 2023, UNEP and the Ministry of Environmental Protection of “solidified their commitment to environmental conservation, protection, and sustainable development through the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU),” according to a UNEP announcement.
Steps by Turkmenistan; US Push
The Umited States and others have pressed the Turkmenistan government to take action on methane.
In June, President Berdimuhamedow approved a “roadmap” on methane, News Central Asia reported. Among other things, the roadmap called for “establishing cooperation with foreign partners in the preparation of pilot projects in the field of reducing methane emissions.” The Guardian reported that the president’s action came “a few days after he had spoken to John Kerry, the US special envoy for climate, about potential financial support and expertise.”
“In addition,” News Central Asia reported, “proposals were made to conduct seminars and research jointly with the International Methane Emissions Observatory (IMEO) of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), as well as to improve the relevant national legislation.” Berdimuhamedow by decree authorized creation of an Intersectoral Commission on Reducing Methane Emissions.
Later in 2023, Turkmenistan joined more than 150 other countries by signing the Global Methane Pledge. Signatories promise to cut global methane emissions by 30% by 2030.
However, neither Turkmenoil and Turkengas, the two state energy companies, have joined the Oil and Gas Methane Partnership 2.0 (OGMP2), a UNEP effort to improve the accuracy and transparency of methane emissions reporting in which some 130 companies participate.
The methane emissions in Turkmenistan are related to crude oil production.
A 2022 study in ACS Publications cited 29 difference sources of emissions in Turkmenistan, “all linked to extraction fields mainly dedicated to crude oil production, where 24 of them are inactive flares venting gas.” The researchers said, “Our results suggest that these large venting point sources represent a key mitigation opportunity as they emanate from human-controlled facilities, and that new satellite methods promise a revolution in the detection and monitoring of methane point emissions worldwide.”
In June of 2023, E&E News reported that the Biden administration was in talks with Turkmenistan officials “to help the nation find large methane leaks and plug them.”
In December 2023, Bloomberg reported, “Foreign petroleum engineers are in the reclusive state of Turkmenistan laying the groundwork for a plan to curb the nation’s giant methane emissions with potential help from the US government.” Bloomberg was unable to confirm the initiative with officials from the US or Turkmenistan.
In January 2024, the state energy company Turkmengaz and the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) signed a Memorandum of Cooperation to explore “the potential of scientific, technical and economic mutually beneficial cooperation in the field of reducing methane emissions,” according to News Central Asia.
In April of 2024, the Turkmenistan office of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe sponsored a two-day seminar on methane regulation that was attended by government officials. A similar OSCE seminar was held in November of 2023.
Turkmenistan Says It Is Developing Regulations
On April 16, the US State Department issued a joint statement about bilateral talks with Turkmenistan, revealing that Turkmenistan is drafting legislation to reduce methane emissions.
The statement says:
The United States and Turkmenistan underscored their continued commitment to fight climate change, especially by reducing methane emissions in support of the Global Methane Pledge. Furthermore, Turkmenistan announced it is currently drafting new legislation intended to reduce methane emissions. The United States expressed appreciation for the strong cooperation received from the Government of Turkmenistan for a joint technical assessment of methane reduction opportunities and looks forward to continuing these efforts. The United States Export-Import Bank (EXIM) and the State Bank for Foreign Economic Affairs of Turkmenistan agreed to continue to work together to identify projects of joint economic interest, including reducing methane and other greenhouse gases.
Summaries of Activities in the Works, IMEO Says
What UNEP is doing with Turkmenistan may become clearer if IMEO makes good on its promise to make public summaries of its engagements. Such summaries have yet to surface for any of the countries with which MARS is working.
But in another reply to EYE, UNEP said summaries will be disclosed “in the future.”
“UNEP’s IMEO plans to include additional information regarding the acknowledgement of MARS notifications in the future,” the UNEP News Desk said April 24.
IMEO officials have stressed that their goal is not to “name and shame” emitters, but rather to engage with governments and the responsible parties about large emissions and to “support and track progress towards mitigation.” IMEO delays the public release of data by 45-75 days in order to facilitate such interactions.
IMEO officials early last year said that summaries of the engagements with emitters would be released. IMEO began releasing emissions data in early December, but has yet to disclose any summaries.
Cynthia Randles, MARS program manager, said in a February 2023 video that MARS planned to connect stakeholders with mitigation support where possible, she said. Emitters will be expected to “take action” on the basis of the information provided, said Randles during a webinar March 22. (View recording.)
Within 45-75 days of the initial notifications, operators will be asked to provide feedback to MARS “regarding the root cause of the emission and share any mitigation plans completed or in process,” explained Randles.
Following the engagement period, she said, MARS will make visual images, data and “summaries” of responses by emitters and governments. “After 45 to 75 days all non-proprietary data and meta data will be made publicly available through the MARS data policy,” according to Randles.
Her slide showed that disclosure will include a “summary of company and/or country response(s) to notification,” a “summary description of mitigation efforts and/or plans,” and “any future MARS detections linked to the event location.” (See previous EYE article.)
