Metrology for European emissions verification on methane isotopes

Methodologies to trace methane emissions by analysing isotope ratios in ambient air

Atmospheric observations provide a reality check on the true efficacy of climate change mitigation policy. Methane (CH₄) is the second most important greenhouse gas for global warming. Carbon dioxide emissions result mainly from fossil fuel burning but 95 % of European CH₄ emissions come from agriculture, waste, and energy production – sources whose emissions are poorly characterised. One method to trace CH₄ is measuring the ratio of isotopes in atmospheric samples, a value characteristic of different formation and transportation processes. Therefore, reliable methane isotope monitoring network is essential for European emissions verification and to support European Green Deal.

Project delivers a metrological infrastructure for the use of methane isotope ratios in improving emission estimate of methane in Europe. To achieve this, validated mass spectrometry (IRMS) and optical isotope ratio spectroscopy (OIRS) measurements are developed to create methane isotope ratio datasets, which can be used e.g. to create models for estimating CH4 emissions from different sources.

VTT MIKES develops a prototype optical spectrometer to measure four isotopologues of CH₄ (¹³CH₃D, ¹²CH₄, ¹³CH₄, ¹²CH₃D) at natural abundance and validates it against other instruments.


Call 2021: Metrology Support for the Green Deal

The project (21GRD04 isoMET) has received funding from the European Partnership on Metrology, co-financed from the European Union’s Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Programme and by the Participating States.