As the world shifts away from coal, the natural gas industry has been growing to secure its place in the energy mix. Across the value chain, we’re seeing obtained gas exploration licenses and announced additions of LNG supplies. Although investing in gas looks promising at first glance, the uncertainty of profitability drawn by methane emissions should call for a closer examination.
隨著世界各國對煤炭依賴度的不斷降低，天然氣行業正不斷壯大，以提升其在能源結構中的地位。從勘探許可的獲取到液化天然氣（LNG）的供應，天然氣在整個價值鏈上都呈現出持續擴張的勢態。儘管投資天然氣項目乍看之下前景廣闊，但甲烷排放給天然氣行業的長期盈利能力帶來的不確定性值得深入審視。
Myth of clean energy
「清潔」能源的迷思
Methane comprises roughly 70 to 90 percent of gas. The natural gas industry often claims that gas is “clean” because it emits 50 percent less carbon dioxide (CO2) than coal. However, this has recently been debunked, as when analyzing its full-lifecycle emission, methane is over 80 times more potent than CO2 across a 20-year period.
甲烷約佔天然氣的70%至90%。天然氣行業通常宣稱天然氣是一種「乾淨能源」，因爲其二氧化碳排放量比煤炭少低50%。然而，最近的一項研究證僞了這一說法。研究表明，從全生命週期的排放量來看，甲烷在20年時間尺度內的升溫效應比二氧化碳高80多倍。