Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

Methane is a potent greenhouse gas that is 83 times more powerful than carbon dioxide in the first 20 years after its release and is responsible for more than one-quarter of currently experienced global temperature rise. However, methane also has a short atmospheric lifetime meaning any reductions have near-immediate climate benefits. As global demand for fossil fuels continues to rise, outpacing increases in renewable energy production on an absolute unit of energy basis, immediate action to reduce oil and gas sector methane emissions is arguably the most-important near-term climate action we can take. In line with the Global Methane Pledge, aggressive reductions in methane by 2030 followed by a push to near-zero emissions by 2050 has the potential to stave off as much as 0.5°C of additional warming by end of century. Through strategic planning, engagement of government, industry, and international agency partners, and large-scale collaborative projects, we have established a capability of completing national-scale methane measurement studies while collecting rich and globally unique datasets. By further leveraging state-of-the-art experimental capabilities and analytics expertise, the proposed program will: Develop protocols for creating measurement-based methane inventories Quantify methane intensities and mitigation potential in the Canadian energy sector; Develop and apply innovative optical diagnostics and uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV)-mounted measurement platforms; and Quantify and model emissions of methane, NOx, and black carbon from key unregulated combustion sources in the oil and gas sector. Discovery Grant funding will be dedicated exclusively to supporting and training highly qualified personnel (HQP). In particular, Discovery funding will allow deeper exploration of core research challenges on the timelines of typical M.A.Sc. and Ph.D. investigations, harnessing the power of a diverse team to maximize potential for groundbreaking advances. Our overarching goal is to publish clearly impactful, high-quality results and analyses that drive specific, sustained policy and actions to reduce methane emissions. Ultimately, our vision is to equip Canada and the world with the required knowledge and insights to achieve both >30% overall cuts in methane emissions by 2030 (led by >75% cuts in the oil and gas sector) as well as more challenging reductions to zero across all sectors by 2050.