Pollution: researchers chase methane emissions

James is a methane hunter. He works for a European NGO and travels the roads looking for leaks of this powerful greenhouse gas. “We look at the installations of the gas and oil industries to understand the extent of methane pollution”he explains. That day, he is in the region Parisian because there are a few oil wells left. He wants to measure the emissions with his thermal camera. Unseen at the naked eye, the camera can identify the leak.

Yet methane is not illegal. James is campaigning with his NGO to have it banned. Throughout his journey, from Bas-Rhin to Bouches-du-Rhône, he found methane, as in all of Europe. More than a third of methane emissions come from the distribution of gas and oil. Leaks visible by satellite. Marion takes care of scrutinizing these leaks because companies seek to reduce them. They are now everywhere, even in the city, like in Paris. A researcher roams the streets of the capital with a sensor that can detect them. Closing all these leaks would reduce global warming.