Fresh report identifies environmental impacts of lifecycle of natural gas imported into Finland

Greenhouse gas emissions are the most significant environmental impact in the natural gas lifecycle, i.e. production, transmission and use, with use of natural gas accounting for 80% of the greenhouse gas emissions. Production and transmission in Russia account for 19% of greenhouse gas emissions, whereas transmission in Finland accounts for just 1%. Carbon dioxide makes up most of the greenhouse gases.

The report shows that methane loss in the supply chain amounts to 0.34% of the natural gas supplied. Different studies show that natural gas has a lower climate warming potential than coal when methane emissions account for less than 1.7–5.5% of the amount of methane transmitted. The figure arrived at in Pöyry’s report is well below these figures. Emissions originating in transmission in Finland have remained more or less the same as in the 2015 report.

Even though climate warming is one of the most significant environmental impacts during the natural gas lifecycle, natural gas is still a low-emission source of energy compared with other fossil fuels, oil and coal.

Pöyry´s report shows that other significant environmental impacts are the use of fossil natural resources, waste processing and wastewater treatment in Russia as well as changes in the soil and vegetation. Changes in the soil and vegetation are typical environmental impacts in normal construction work.

Gasum’s corporate responsibility and sustainability objectives derive from the company’s strategy. One of Gasum’s corporate responsibility themes is climate change mitigation. The study gives us fresh figures for air emissions during the lifecycle of natural gas. The report on the natural gas supply chain commissioned from Pöyry is the fourth in the series.

Click the link to the report (pdf)>