Fracking For Gas May Have Caused Recent Increase In Global Atmospheric Methane - Report

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th August, 2019) The widespread use of fracking to boost gas production from shale formations in North America over the past decade may have caused half the rise in greenhouse gases around the world, a Cornell University researcher said in a new paper on Wednesday.

"We conclude that shale-gas production in North America over the past decade may have contributed more than half of all of the increased emissions from fossil fuels globally and approximately one-third of the total increased emissions from all sources globally over the past decade," Cornell University Ecology Researcher Robert Howell said.

Levels of methane gas have been rising rapidly in the atmosphere over the past decade, contributing to global climate change, Howell explained.

"Here we show that part of the change may... be associated with emissions from shale-gas and shale-oil development," Howell said.

Previous studies have not explicitly considered shale gas as a significant cause of these emissions, even though most of the increase in natural gas production globally over the past decade is from that source, Howell added.