Recording Uncertainty Ratings of Methane Measurements In Our Quantified Emissions Tokens®

Methane is a potent greenhouse gas (GHG) that causes 80 times more warming than the same amount of carbon dioxide according to the United Nations’ scientific panel on climate change. Given the potency of methane, reducing emissions generated from this gas is central to solving the current climate crisis. By the end of this century, countries and companies must limit global warming to around 1.5°C (2.7°F) in order to avoid the worst effects of climate change. This requires GHG emissions to peak before 2025, and then be reduced by 43% by 2030. It also requires methane to be reduced by a third over the same time period.

Advanced monitoring solutions play an important role in mitigating methane emissions by helping to quantify how much of this GHG is released into the atmosphere — after all, “what gets measured gets managed.” Companies like Project Canary, Honeywell Forge, LongPath, Bridger Photonics, and Clean Connect AI offer energy producers and operators these methane monitoring solutions, allowing them to measure, track, and report the volumes of methane emissions their operations and products are responsible for.   

Implementing measurement solutions is an important step toward reducing methane emissions, however the frequency with which measurements are taken is just as important. A 2023 research study explored how measurement frequency and detection limits contribute to temporal uncertainty for a specific production site — and the findings are astounding. 

The study revealed that there is a significant increase in the confidence of measured methane emissions as you increase how frequently measurements occur and how sensitive measurement limits are. By continuously monitoring and measuring methane emissions, producers and operators are better able to track and report volumes of this GHG.  

These energy producers and operators turn to EarnDLT to mint their quantified and verified environmental attribute data, including methane emissions, onto our Quantified Emissions Tokens^® (QET) product. As the 2023 research study demonstrated, however, it’s not enough to just store data related to methane emission volumes — buyers also need to know the confidence levels associated with this data to develop a complete understanding of the product they are buying. Because QETs are a trustworthy container for all types of verified data, EarnDLT can easily store this additional information alongside information related to provenance and production volumes. 

At EarnDLT, part of the QET creation process involves etching quantified and verified Minimum Detection Limits (kg/hr), Measurement Frequencies, and Confidence/Uncertainty Ratings (%) onto every token created. We know that the level of confidence in how the data was sourced is as important as the data itself, which is why we are committed to continuously intentionally evolving our approach as industry best practices develop. 

We invite you to learn more about our QETs, which capture and convert physical volumes into primary measured, reported, and verified (MRV) data — including data related to confidence levels surrounding methane measurement. The QET’s transparent “MRV” emissions data and environmental attributes become connected with and augment gas and commodities transactions, making them an essential asset for the continued empirical tracking of methane and carbon emissions. 

Explore all of the benefits unlocked by QETs by downloading our whitepaper “Quantified Emissions Token ® V2.0 — Introducing a Universal Framework for the Era of Carbon Management,” produced in collaboration with Baker Botts, a leading international law firm recognized for its service to clients in the energy and technology sectors.