Carbon footprint of global natural gas supplies to China.

Gan, Yu; El-Houjeiri, Hassan M; Badahdah, Alhassan; Lu, Zifeng; Cai, Hao; Przesmitzki, Steven; Wang, Michael · Nat Commun · 2020

Where this comes from

Abstract

As natural gas demand surges in China, driven by the coal-to-gas switching policy, widespread attention is focused on its impacts on global gas supply-demand rebalance and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Here, for the first time, we estimate well-to-city-gate GHG emissions of gas supplies for China, based on analyses of field-specific characteristics of 104 fields in 15 countries. Results show GHG intensities of supplies from 104 fields vary from 6.2 to 43.3 g CO<sub>2</sub>eq MJ<sup>-1</sup>. Due to the increase of GHG-intensive gas supplies from Russia, Central Asia, and domestic shale gas fields, the supply-energy-weighted average GHG intensity is projected to increase from 21.7 in 2016 to 23.3 CO<sub>2</sub>eq MJ<sup>-1</sup> in 2030, and total well-to-city-gate emissions of gas supplies are estimated to grow by ~3 times. While securing gas supply is a top priority for the Chinese government, decreasing GHG intensity should be considered in meeting its commitment to emission reductions.