MiQ, Carbon Limits to Develop First Independent LNG Certification Standard

By Caroline Evans  May 13, 2021 naturalgasintel.com

Nonprofit MiQ and partner Carbon Limits plan to roll out an emissions certification standard for liquefied natural gas volumes (LNG) as early as this summer, providing a potential boost for suppliers under pressure from customers to lower their environmental impacts.

The partners said Thursday they are developing the first independently audited certification standard to calculate the methane emissions associated with producing and transporting liquefied natural gas (LNG).

“From early summer, LNG producers and buyers will be given the tools to provide the transparency currently missing in the market — helping to pick up the pace in our fight against climate change and taking us one step closer to net-zero,” said MiQ senior adviser Georges Tijbosch.

The announcement comes as LNG buyers are pressuring suppliers to reduce the environmental impacts of their purchases. Cheniere Energy Inc. plans to offer emissions certificates on its cargoes starting next year. Other developers including Sempra Energy and Tellurian Inc. have recently said they are looking into certification as well.

The collaboration aims to extend MiQ’s existing certification standard already in use at some upstream facilities in the United States. Certification would be carried out on individual LNG projects “to ensure accuracy, offering certainty on environmental performance,” the partners said.

MiQ’s standard provides an A-F grading scale based on three metrics: methane intensity, company practices and methane detection technology deployment.

Carbon Limits managing director Stephanie Saunier noted the difficulty in tracing methane emissions from oil and gas installations, which can result in large discrepancies.

“Awareness of the problem and motivation to address it is growing, but it is hard to fix given the complexity of supply chain operations” Saunier said. “Robust monitoring, reporting and verification frameworks are needed, established through an independent and science-based process. Transparency in all aspects of the standard is also essential for gaining broad public trust.”