Natural Gas not the answer for quick emissions cuts

Switching to natural gas over coal will not help the fight against climate change, scientist Tom Wigley from the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) says. The research suggests that the widespread belief that gas is cleaner than coal, does not extend to its carbon emissions.

There is a complex atmospheric interplay between different types of emissions and the atmosphere. For example, whilst coal produces more carbon dioxide than gas, it also emits more sulphates and other particulates, which help reduce warming in the short term despite their other undesirable effects like their health implications and acid rain due to their sun blocking effect. Natural gas extraction also causes methane emissions due to leakage at source. Methane is a particularly potent greenhouse gas.

So switching to natural gas would reduce carbon emissions, but increase methane and reduce the particulate effect from coal. Wigley estimates that it would cause a net increase in warming at least in the next 40 years. Previous research in this area has been patchy due to the lack of information on methane leaks, but even with no methane leakage, natural gas would not reduce warming, says Wigley.

Of course this does not take into account the availability of natural gas. World reserves estimate around 60 years of reserves at current consumption rates, but if production is increased to replace coal, this would be much shorter. It is clear that natural gas is no replacement for coal and we need to look at renewables to fill the gaps.