Satellite-detected methane leaks from human activities in 2021. China’s coal operations spewed so much methane last year that it had the same global warming impact as all the carbon dioxide emissions from international shipping. The nation’s energy sector, the world’s largest coal producer, accounted for roughly a fifth of total global methane emissions from oil, gas, coal and biomass. It generated over 50% more than the next largest emitters: Russia and the U.S. The estimates, which are the latest from the International Energy Agency’s Methane Tracker , show the enormity of China’s task in mitigating its methane pollution. “China has encouraged miners to utilize more methane produced during the mining process but there remain major obstacles,” said Nannan Kou, an analyst with BloombergNEF in Beijing. “Capturing the gas requires a lot of capital investment and most mines aren’t near major gas transmission pipelines.” Different entities are often responsible for […]