Natural gas: Impact on nature
Cleaner than coal, unless the methane leaks out
What this tab covers What taking energy from this source does to land, water, air and climate, wildlife and ecosystems, with life-cycle emissions and land use where measured.Gas power emits about half the CO2 of coal per kWh, but methane leaking along the supply chain can erase much of that advantage. Fracking adds local impacts on water, land and earthquakes.
Life-cycle emissions 490 (range 410 to 650); UNECE gives 403 to 513 g CO2e/kWh17 Life-cycle, combined-cycle gas power. IPCC AR5 median and range (direct emissions 370). With CCS: 94 to 340, median 170 (AR5), or 92 to 220 (UNECE 2022). Land use 410 (footprint) to 1,900 (spacing) ha per TWh per year (median, life-cycle)15Effects on nature
| Area | Effect | Size | How it is reduced |
|---|---|---|---|
| Climate (combustion) | Methane has the most hydrogen per carbon of any fossil fuel, so it emits the least CO2 per unit of heat.1 | 56.1 t CO2/TJ, against 73.3 for crude oil and 94.6 for bituminous coal | High-efficiency combined cycles, CCS |
| Climate (methane leakage) | Methane is a potent short-lived greenhouse gas that escapes from wells, compressors, pipes and abandoned wells.14 | Nearly 35 Mt CH4 from natural gas operations in 2024; abandoned oil and gas wells around 3 Mt | Leak detection and repair, replacing pneumatic devices, plugging old wells |
| Land | Well pads, roads and pipelines fragment habitat. The spacing between wells is larger than the direct footprint.15 | Median 410 ha per TWh per year (footprint) or 1,900 (spacing) | Multi-well pads, shared corridors, restoring sites |
| Water | Steam cycles in power plants evaporate cooling water. Fracking needs large volumes and produces wastewater.16 | 0.90 to 5.9 L/kWh dissipated in steam-based plants | Dry cooling, recycling of produced water |
| Leakage assumptions | Life-cycle results depend heavily on the assumed leak rate. With a high leak rate and a short (20-year) warming horizon, gas power can approach coal, and the extractive industry has systematically underestimated fossil methane emissions.16 | UNECE assumes 0.5% leakage at extraction in Russia plus 0.28% in transmission from Russia | Measurement-based reporting (satellites, aerial surveys) |
Gas displaced coal in many power systems and cut CO2 per kWh by roughly half. The size of the real climate benefit depends on how much methane escapes from wells, compressors and pipes. The IEA reports a global average upstream methane intensity of about 1% for oil and gas, with the best producers outperforming the worst by a factor of about 100.
Fracking has local effects: truck traffic, noise and wastewater. Injecting large volumes of wastewater deep underground has triggered earthquakes in some regions, which regulators now manage by limiting injection volumes and pressures.
Sources
- 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, Vol. 2 Energy, Ch. 1 Introduction (Tables 1.2 and 1.4) IPCC, 2006
- Global Methane Tracker 2025: Understanding methane emissions IEA, 2025
- What are the land-use intensities of different energy sources? (summary of Lovering et al., PLoS ONE 2022) Breakthrough Institute, 2022
- Carbon Neutrality in the UNECE Region: Integrated Life-cycle Assessment of Electricity Sources (ECE/ENERGY/141) UNECE, 2022
- Climate Change 2014: Mitigation, Annex III Technology-specific cost and performance parameters (Table A.III.2) IPCC AR5 Working Group III, 2014