A team from EnergyCC and CGD is working to help countries capture the gains from reducing oil & gas industry emissions. Every year, oil and gas producers burn off or vent into the atmosphere roughly 8 percent of the gas they extract—waste worth more than $100 billion equivalent to 92% of the gas consumed annually across Africa and South & Central Ameriica combined.

The sudy assesses the multi-faceted consequences of the natural gas wastage: lost revenues for companies and governments alike, public health emergency from toxic chemicals emitted, large amounts of energy wasted in regions with energy proverty, 'the lowest ofthe low hanging fruit' to reduce impact on climate change.

At the global level, it would make sense to focus on the top 300 super-emitter flares—responsible for around 42 percent of global flaring emissions—that are spread across 26 countries, nearly all of them developing economies. The CGD-EnergyCC project is designed to respond to building the analytical foundation, the policy templates, and the international cooperation required to turn a $100 billion waste problem into a source of revenue, health, and energy for the countries that can least afford to keep squandering it.

A CGD blog fuurther outlines the four main channels through which flaring reduction pays off. Subsequent posts will develop these and other aspects of our work. An update to the Nigeria offshore super-emitter performance assessment is in progress to be published.