Reducing Gas Flaring and Methane Emissions

Taxing or penalizing gas flaring and venting at levels that change company behavior can cut methane emissions, raise government revenues, and improve the health of people living nearby: three wins from one fiscal lever. This is one of the more promising climate-and-development ideas around, and so w...

Every year, oil and gas producers burn off or vent into the atmosphere roughly 8 percent of the gas they extract. Reducing this waste is not an intractable problem. It is a policy failure. And fixing it would deliver a rare win-win.

Given Brazil’s leadership role at this year’s COP, its experience with gas flaring will set an example for both established and new oil and gas producers.