“Global methane emissions from oil production are 15 times higher than IOGP (International Association of Oil & Gas Producers, ed.) estimates. Those for Russia are 10 times higher and those for Saudi Arabia as much as 40”, claims the study that LCA experts from the nova-Institute research center conducted on behalf of Renewable Carbon Initiative (RCI). The study aims not only to point out the inconsistencies in the data, but more importantly to expose all the consequences: “There are important implications when comparing the carbon footprint of fossil carbon-based chemicals and materials (i.e., synthetics, ed.) versus renewable ones”… Like leather.
The premise
It’s one of the worries for those in the industry: carbon footprint calculation methods impute to leather (and other natural materials, such as wool) a substantial co-responsibility for the emissions of agribusiness companies, from which they harvest materials. The side effect (and paradoxical for us) is that natural materials are more impactful than synthetic alternatives, which end up with a burden from the upstream that is significantly less cumbersome. Here, we can finally challenge this curious assumption.
Emission estimates from oil
This study sponsored by RCI (an initiative that promotes sustainable chemistry and plastics) overturns the assumptions of calculating the carbon footprint of plastics. The research center sifted through the latest updates of major oil and gas supply chain LCI (life cycle inventory) databases, and it cross-referenced them with advanced satellite data that also reveal vents, combustions and leaks. The result is calculations, as we said at the outset, completely different from those of not only IOGP, but also of the IEA (International Intergovernmental Agency for Energy). Emissions related to oil and gas extraction are all to be rewritten.
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