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環境資訊中心外電；姜唯 翻譯；林大利 審校；稿源：ENS

美國康乃爾大學和非營利組織環境保護基金（Environmental Defense Fund）的發現，氨態氮肥產業的甲烷排放量被嚴重低估，實際排放量竟高於美環保署對全美所有工業過程的估計值。

氨態氮肥業是天然氣重要的下游產業，以天然氣為原料或燃料，生產氨和其他升級產品，過程中排放強效溫室氣體甲烷。

研究人員透過配備高精度甲烷感測器的Google街景車發現，氨態氮肥廠的甲烷排放量不但是該產業申報值的100倍，也遠高於環保署對全美所有工業流程甲烷排放總量的估計值。

配備高精度甲烷感測器的Google街景車，照片取自 。

「我們選了一個大多數人沒聽說過的小型工業來研究，結果發現它的甲烷排放量是美國所有工業生產排放的三倍，」研究共同作者、康乃爾大學土木環境工程教授艾伯森（John Albertson）說，「這表示過去的估計值與實際測量值之間有極大差距。」

艾伯森的研究領域是用移動感測辨識石油和天然氣產地以及化肥業的逸散性甲烷排放。

這篇發表在《Elementa》期刊。

近年，由於頁岩氣開採效率的提高，加上人們認為天然氣是比煤、石油、汽油或柴油乾淨的化石燃料，天然氣的使用量有所成長。

「但天然氣主要成分是甲烷，其每個分子的暖化效應比二氧化碳更強，」艾伯森說，「供應鏈中任何地方若有大量排放或洩漏，都可能使天然氣成為氣候變遷的一個重要因素。」

美國只有幾十家工廠生產氨態氮肥，通常位於公共道路附近，在下風處便可檢測出甲烷逸散。

「即使僅外洩一小部分，甲烷強大的溫室效應讓小洩漏亦不容忽視，」另一位共同作者、環境保護基金首席科學家魯德克（Joseph Rudek）說，「以20年的時間來看，甲烷的暖化潛力是二氧化碳的84倍。」

在這項研究中，Google街景車在美國中部六個代表性化肥廠附近的公共道路上行駛，測量逸散性甲烷排放，即無意間洩漏至大氣中甲烷。

研究人員解釋，此種排放可能是化肥生產過程中化學反應不完全、燃料不完全燃燒或洩漏所造成。

該團隊發現，平均來說，工廠使用的氣體有0.34％會排放到大氣中。

化肥業自主申報的甲烷排放量為每年0.2千兆克（0.2 gigagram，即200公噸）。若將這六個工廠的排放率擴大到整個產業，每年甲烷排放總量為28千兆克（即2.8萬公噸），是自主申報量的100倍。

根據美國環保署的估計，全美所有工業流程每年僅產生8千兆克的甲烷排放，遠遠不及化肥業的總排放量。

該研究的部分資金來自阿特金森永續未來中心與環境保護基金的聯合研究計畫。

US Fertilizer Plants Emit 100 Times the Methane Reported ITHACA, New York, June 6, 2019 (ENS)

Emissions of the potent greenhouse gas methane from the ammonia fertilizer industry have been greatly underestimated, finds new research from Cornell University and the nonprofit Environmental Defense Fund. The methane emissions were higher than the EPA’s estimate for all industrial processes in the United States.

The scientists estimated methane emissions from this important downstream consumer of natural gas, the ammonia fertilizer industry, which uses natural gas as a feedstock and a fuel for the production of ammonia and other upgraded products.

Using a Google Street View car equipped with a high-precision methane sensor, the researchers discovered that methane emissions from ammonia fertilizer plants were 100 times higher than the fertilizer industry’s self-reported estimate.

The methane emissions also were substantially higher than the Environmental Protection Agency’s estimate for all industrial processes in the United States.

“We took one small industry that most people have never heard of and found that its methane emissions were three times higher than the EPA assumed was emitted by all industrial production in the United States,” said John Albertson, co-author and professor of civil and environmental engineering at Cornell.

“It shows us that there’s a huge gap between a priori estimates and real-world measurements,” said Albertson, whose research covers mobile sensing to identify fugitive methane emissions in oil and gas production regions as well as in the fertilizer industry.

The researchers’ findings are reported in “Estimation of Methane Emissions From the U.S. Ammonia Fertilizer Industry Using a Mobile Sensing Approach,” published in the journal “Elementa.”

The use of natural gas has grown in recent years, bolstered by improved efficiency in shale gas extraction and the perception that natural gas is a less dirty fossil fuel than coal, oil, gasoline or diesel.

“But natural gas is largely methane, which molecule-per-molecule has a stronger global warming potential than carbon dioxide,” Albertson said. “The presence of substantial emissions or leaks anywhere along the supply chain could make natural gas a more significant contributor to climate change than previously thought.”

Ammonia fertilizer is produced at just a few dozen plants in the United States. Factories are often located near public roadways, where emissions carried downwind can be detected, in this case by mobile sensors.

“Even though a small percentage is being leaked, the fact that methane is such a powerful greenhouse gas makes the small leaks very important,” said Joseph Rudek, co-author and lead senior scientist at the Environmental Defense Fund. “In a 20-year timeframe, methane’s global warming potential is 84 times that of carbon dioxide.”

For this study, the Google Street View vehicle traveled public roads near six representative fertilizer plants in the country’s midsection to quantify “fugitive methane emissions,” defined as inadvertent losses of methane to the atmosphere.

The emissions were likely due to incomplete chemical reactions during fertilizer production, incomplete fuel combustion or leaks, the researchers explained.

The team discovered that, on average, 0.34 percent of the gas used in the plants is emitted to the atmosphere.

Scaling this emission rate from the six plants to the entire industry suggests total annual methane emissions of 28 gigagrams per year – 100 times higher than the fertilizer industry’s self-reported estimate of 0.2 gigagrams per year.

This figure far exceeds the EPA’s estimate that all industrial processes in the United States produce only eight gigagrams of methane emissions per year.

The research was funded in part by a grant from the Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future’s joint research program with the Environmental Defense Fund.

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作者

如果有一件事是重要的，如果能為孩子實現一個願望，那就是人類與大自然和諧共存。

於特有生物研究保育中心服務，小鳥和棲地是主要的研究對象。是龜毛的讀者，認為龜毛是探索世界的美德。

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環境資訊中心外電；姜唯 翻譯；林大利 審校；稿源：ENS

根據經濟合作暨發展組織（OECD）的最新報告，歐盟實行的碳交易制度並沒有對公司的營收、利潤、固定資產和僱用狀況造成負面影響，事實上，參與ETS的公司往往表現更好。報告分析2005年到2014年間，參與歐盟碳交易體系（Emissions Trading System，ETS）的2000家公司，得出這樣的結果。

碳排放交易系統是歐盟對抗氣候變遷的基礎。圖為德國Kraftwerk Weisweiler發電廠。圖片來源：Neuwieser（CC BY-SA 2.0）

該報告甫於上月發表。

參與ETS的公司多達2000家，報告將這些公司的財務資料與相同國家、產業、類似規模，但不受監管的公司進行比較，並輔以「歐洲污染物排放及轉移登記冊」（European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register）的資料。

歐盟碳交易體系（Emissions Trading System，ETS）是全世界第一個國際碳交易體系，也是現在全球25個碳交易體系中最大的。它為31個國家的1萬4000多個發電廠和工廠分配可交易的排放許可證，佔歐盟溫室氣體總排放量的40％以上。

報告指出，ETS沒有對營收、利潤、固定資產和僱用狀況造成負面影響，事實上，參與ETS的公司往往表現更好。

研究期間結束時，參與ETS的企業營收比未參與者高7％到18％，固定資產成長6％到10％，僱用狀況和獲利則略高於非ETS企業。

過去的證據顯示，ETS鼓勵受監管公司投資碳儲存技術，可以提高生產力。身為歐洲減碳排放的主要途徑，這對ETS來說非常有利。

ETS有一套排放限額和交易原則，對工廠、發電廠和其他設施設定溫室氣體排放量上限。上限會隨著時間減少，因此總排放量會下降。

在上限內，企業可以接收或購買排放配額，彼此根據需求相互交易。也可以向世界各地的減排計畫購買限量的貸款額度。配額總數的限制確保它們具有價值。

企業必須每年繳交補貼來支付其排放量，否則會被處以高額罰款。如果排放量減少，企業可以保留備用配額以滿足其未來需求，或者出售給需要的公司。交易帶來的靈活性可確保用最低成本減少排放。

OECD的報告指出，ETS的確有助減少碳排放。在法國、荷蘭、挪威和英國，將ETS涵蓋的發電廠和工業設施的排放數據，與類似但不受監管的設施進行比較，可看出顯著差異。

在這四個國家，受管制的工廠在2005年至2012年間排放量減少了10-14％。2008年至2012年，也就是在ETS的第二個交易階段，降幅最多，越大的設施降幅度越大。

OECD: Firms Thrive Under EU’s Emissions Trading System PARIS, France, January 24, 2019 (ENS)

Emissions limits set by the European Union’s Emissions Trading System have not hurt revenue, profits or employment at firms subject to the cap-and-trade program over the years 2005-2014, finds a new report from the developed countries’ Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

, titled “Joint Impact of the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) on Carbon Emissions and Economic Performance,” was released last month.

It compares financial data from around 2,000 firms operating ETS-regulated facilities across the EU with financial data from similar-sized unregulated firms from the same countries and sectors. This data was complemented with data from the European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register.

The EU ETS is the world’s first international emissions trading system and the biggest of 25 carbon cap-and-trade systems in place worldwide today. It allocates tradeable emissions permits to over 14,000 power stations and industrial plants in 31 countries accounting for over 40 percent of the EU’s total greenhouse gas emissions.

The report finds that EU ETS regulations “had no negative effect on revenue, profits, fixed assets or jobs, and, in fact, firms subject to the ETS tended to perform better.”

Revenues of firms subject to the ETS were seven percent to 18 percent higher at the end of the period studied than what they would have been without the EU ETS, and their fixed assets grew by six to 10 percent compared to control firms.

Employment levels and operating profit at ETS firms were slightly higher than at non-ETS firms.

Previous evidence has shown that the EU ETS encourages regulated companies to invest in carbon-saving technology, which can boost productivity, a move that speaks well for the ETS, Europe’s main tool for reducing carbon emissions.

The EU ETS works on the cap and trade principle. A cap, or limit, is set on the total amount of certain greenhouse gases that can be emitted by the factories, power plants and other installations within the system. The cap is reduced over time so that total emissions fall.

Within the cap, companies receive or buy emission allowances, which they can trade with one another as required. They can also buy limited amounts of international credits from emission-saving projects around the world. The limit on the total number of allowances available ensures that they have a value.

After each year, a company must surrender enough allowances to cover all its emissions, or heavy fines are imposed. If it reduces its emissions, it can either keep the spare allowances to cover its future needs or sell them to another company that needs them. The flexibility that trading brings ensures that emissions are cut where it costs least to do so.

The OECD report finds the EU’s Emissions Trading System has been effective in reducing carbon emissions. Comparing emissions data from power plants and industrial facilities covered by the ETS with data from similar but unregulated facilities in the four countries where data enable such a comparison – France, the Netherlands, Norway and the United Kingdom – shows a significant difference.

ETS-regulated plants in these countries cut their emissions by 10-14 percent between the system’s 2005 introduction and 2012 compared with similar-sized unregulated installations from the same countries and sectors. Most of the drop took place from 2008 to 2012, during the second trading phase of the ETS, and the decrease was most marked at the biggest facilities.

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作者

如果有一件事是重要的，如果能為孩子實現一個願望，那就是人類與大自然和諧共存。

於特有生物研究保育中心服務，小鳥和棲地是主要的研究對象。是龜毛的讀者，認為龜毛是探索世界的美德。

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