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What do Nord Stream methane leaks mean for climate change?

Researchers are rushing to calculate the greenhouse-gas emissions resulting from mysterious leaks in major gas pipelines that connect Russia to Europe.
  1. Katharine Sanderson

    1. Katharine Sanderson is a freelance journalist based in Cornwall, UK.

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Since 26 September, mysterious leaks have appeared in the underwater Nord Stream gas pipelines — which run from Russia to Germany — close to the Danish island of Bornholm in the Baltic Sea. Given the tense energy situation between Russia and the West following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a real-life geopolitical whodunit has ensued, with NATO now among those attributing the leaks to sabotage. Seismologists picked up data that might help to pinpoint the cause of the leaks, and other researchers are trying to work out how much methane — a potent greenhouse gas — will be released as a result.

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doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-03111-x

Updates & Corrections

  • Clarification 30 September 2022: This story has been changed slightly to make it clear that Mark Davis's comments referred to global annual methane emissions from the oil and gas industry.

  • Correction 03 October 2022: An earlier version of this story implied that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine caused the Nord Stream 2 pipeline to be shut in February. In fact, Nord Stream 2 was not operational before the invasion.

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