Coal Mine Methane Mitigation Projects Companion Sheet methodology
| This article is part of the Global Coal Mine Tracker, a project of Global Energy Monitor. |
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This page describes the methodology used to create the Coal Mine Methane Mitigation Projects Companion sheet, which associates assets in GEM's Global Coal Mine Tracker with known methane mitigation projects. GEM uses other methodologies for estimating annual methane emissions from coal mines and for associating remotely sensed methane plumes with coal mines.
Mitigation projects were drawn from the Global Methane Initiative's (GMI) International Coal Mine Methane Project List [1] (last updated by the GMI July 2, 2024) which was compiled by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) in support of the GMI.
Within this record, emissions reduction estimates and operational status data sources vary by country. GMI reports that, in the United States, data sources include the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program and the Coalbed Methane Outreach Program. Outside the United States, data are primarily drawn from presentations given to the GMI and consultations with GMI’s network of researchers.
Beginning in December 2024, GEM researchers linked coal mines to the GMI project list primarily by name, and where possible verified the connection based on location and ownership through review of the data sources listed in the GMI database. Only GMI projects that GEM researchers could confidently link to a mine listed in GEM’s Global Coal Mine Tracker are included in this list. This list covers 198 out of the 264 GMI projects associated with non-abandoned/closed mines.
Based on the project descriptions and data sources provided in the GMI database, GEM researchers classified mitigation projects into the following categories: “flaring,” “utilization,” “VAM utilization,” “VAM destruction,” or “flaring and utilization.” These classifications were adapted from the International Energy Agency’s typology of coal mine mitigation projects. [2] In the GEM dataset, projects are designated as “VAM utilization” if the project is a known form of ventilation air methane utilization (e.g. Regenerative Thermal Oxidation wherein the heat generated is used to power a boiler to generate electricity). “Utilization” is indicated if the technology draws on drained/gob methane or if the source of methane is unknown, and also encompasses methane sold to pipelines or used as town gas. “VAM destruction” is assigned to projects which are not explicitly utilizing ventilation air methane for heat or to generate electricity.
In a December 2025 update to the CMM companion sheet, GEM expanded on the existing project details with the addition of two new data fields. The field "Onsite or Offsite Utilization" further designates whether CMM utilization projects use or used captured methane at the site of the host coal mine (e.g. for direct thermal or power generation) or offsite for purposes not related to the coal mine's operations (e.g. for drained gas which is transported and used as fuel elsewhere). GEM researchers also added a data field indicating whether pre-mining methane drainage, or pre-drainage, occurred at the site of each CMM mitigation project, when information was available. Pre-drainage was considered to have occurred if pre-mining methane gas was either captured or destroyed, and not simply vented into the atmosphere.
References
- ↑ Global Methane Initiative, "International Coal Mine Methane Project List", July 22, 2024.
- ↑ International Energy Agency, "Strategies to Reduce Emissions from Coal Supply", 2023.
