HomeNewsGTI Energy launches Veritas open-source protocols to accelerate methane emissions reductions

GTI Energy launches Veritas open-source protocols to accelerate methane emissions reductions

2/14/2023

GTI Energy has announced new open-source methane emissions measurement protocols to meet the urgent need to accurately measure and reduce methane emissions and accelerate the transition to a clean energy economy.

GTI Energy’s Veritas initiative is a set of standardized, science-based, technology-neutral and measurement-informed protocols built to assemble methane emissions inventories that are verified by direct field measurements. 

Reducing emissions from methane, a potent greenhouse gas, is one of the most cost-effective and impactful ways to mitigate climate change. In recent years, more than 100 countries have joined the Global Methane Pledge, a critical first step toward achieving methane emissions reductions. In the U.S., the Inflation Reduction Act requires companies to start producing precise measurements of methane emissions and reduce them.

“The GTI Energy Veritas protocols will effectively fill the gap between making reduction pledges, and actually keeping them,” said Erin Blanton, Managing Director of Zero Emissions Systems at GTI Energy. “The tools we have developed will bring simplicity and consistency to the once-daunting challenge of measuring and reporting methane emissions.” 

Since September 2021, GTI Energy, along with Highwood Emissions Management and SLR Consulting, has convened dozens of industry, research and environmental stakeholders to engage in a transparent protocol development process complete with diverse viewpoints and perspectives to enable credibility. More than 35 companies partnered with Veritas to shape the protocols’ development. 

The GTI Energy Veritas technical protocols cover six segments of the natural gas supply chain, including production, gathering and boosting, processing, transmission and storage, distribution and liquified natural gas (LNG). Protocols for each of the six supply chain segments include:

  • Methane intensity: Defines what methane intensities should look like for each segment of the natural gas supply chain.
  • Measurement: Describes how to take measurements to inform emissions inventories by segment. 
  • Reconciliation: Reconciles emissions-factor inventories with actual measurements by segment.
  • Supply Chain Summation: Adds multiple segments to reach a total emissions intensity.
  • Assurance: Provides guidance for verifying an emissions inventory, company documentation requirements, and third-party auditing. 

“The natural gas industry has been calculating methane emissions inventories for decades, but now needs tools to verify, validate, or modify these calculated inventories by using site-scale field emission measurements,” said Matt Harrison, Senior Principal at SLR Consulting. “This set of protocols offers a new ‘measuring stick’: a consistent set of guidelines for using these measurements that all company stakeholders can understand.”

The design of the protocols is aimed at working together with existing methane reduction target frameworks and collaborations—empowering the industry with real-world technical solutions and consistent data to rapidly scale and accelerate methane emission reductions. 

“The global economy is moving towards precise carbon accounting of commodities across multiple companies and supply chain segments,” said Thomas Fox, President of Highwood Emissions Management. “To decarbonize the energy sector, we need robust, empirical methodologies that foster innovation and collaboration, like the Veritas protocols. Highwood is proud to support Veritas, which confronts a monumental challenge with a credible solution focused on data integrity and consistent measurement.”

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