Major leaks on the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines releasing huge amounts of gas into the surrounding Baltic Sea and atmosphere were reported earlier this month.
Images show the surface of the sea broiling as gas erupted from pipelines 80–110 meters (265–360 feet) below sea level. The long-term impact of the explosion is hard to quantify.
The long term climate impacts of the emissions aren’t known but the emissions will be substantial.
In good news though, a spokesperson from German’y Environment ministry has said, “According to our current knowledge, the leaks in the Nord Stream pipeline do not pose any serious threat to the marine environment of the Baltic Sea”
So, the direct effect of the gas leaks on the climate is simply the extra amounts of the powerful greenhouse gas Methane which is adding to the atmosphere.
This amount will be a drop, or bubble, in the ocean compared to the huge amounts of “fugitive methane” that’s emitted everyday around the world due to things like fracking, goal mining and oil extraction.
At the time of the “accidents”, neither pipeline was in operation but both were filled with natural gas.
It’s important to note that the gas from the Nord Stream pipeline leaks would have been burned anyway for energy use with or without this leak — so in the long term it’s unlikely that any extra emissions were released than normal. However, we got no benefit out of this air pollution.
Methane itself is the main component of natural gas and is significantly more harmful than carbon dioxide when considering climate change. That is when comparing their natural states — but when we look at the sheer amounts of both of the gases, we must consider that there’s roughly 200 times more CO2 than methane, and so Carbon Dioxide is generally the biggest contributor to global warming, although not as powerful.
Methane, Carbon Dioxide and other greenhouse gases act as a blanket insulating the Earth. They manage to absorb energy which means heat is leaving the planet at a slower rate — a process dubbed the Greenhouse effect.
Since the industrial revolution, and generally over the last 150 years, human activity have lead to a significant artificial increase in greenhouse gas emissions — causing global temperatures to soar at an alarming rate.
At the UN global climate conference COP26 late last year, more than 100 nations pledged to reduce methane emissions by 30% by 2030.
Nord Stream 1 and 2 are now shut down indefinitely because of the leaks — but many countries in Europe, including Germany, rely on these gas pipelines for energy.
Roughly 10% of Germany’s energy comes from gas, and, although the country has stored enough to keep it going for some months, those stores will run out.
About Us
Our name is Valuuti and we want to do some good in the world and help fight climate change.
We’re a small start-up brand with an important mission — help nature and fight climate change! Specifically, we want to work with endangered animal charities, plant trees, clean up beaches and start/aid carbon capture and other environmental regeneration projects.
We also want to increase awareness through our environmental blog — talking about important issues, environmental wins and Valuuti updates. Please follow us along for our journey!
In the next few months, we’re launching our sustainable clothing brand, each design linked to its own unique cause and charity. We’ll have:
- Tree hoodies that when purchased, a real tree will be planted.
- Elephant hoodies that support Elephant Conservation charities
- Other services that will fund climate projects and general ideas that do good.
Thank you for reading and we hope you follow our journey!
The Valuuti team.
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This post was previously published on medium.com.
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Photo credit: iStockPhoto.com
