Estimation of greenhouse gas emissions from Iran's gas flaring by using satellite data and combustion equations

In addition to the waste of resources and economic losses, environmental damage by gas flaring is widespread and significant. Since flaring the associated gas gives no added value in exchange for its pollution and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, it could be identified as a top priority for mitigation. Iran is the third gas flaring country after Russia and Iraq among those facing this issue, and is responsible for 12.1% of the world's gas flaring. While the necessity of developing a method for the precise estimation of flaring GHG emissions is clear, especially for evaluating the result of countries' efforts to meet their nationally determined contribution target, there are huge uncertainties and discrepancies in the values of emission factors among various data sources due to the lack of actual measurements of the volume and diversity of the composition of flare gas. This study aimed to fill the gap in providing authentic data on Iran's gas flaring GHG and air pollutant emissions by developing a model based on satellite data on flare volumes, gas compositions, and combustion equations. Our results revealed that based on 2021 data on flaring volume, Iranian gas flares are emitting approximately 50 million metric tons of CO₂ equivalent to the atmosphere annually, which could be reduced to 43 by only enhancing the flares' efficiency. It accounted for 5.5%-6% of the total GHG emissions of the country. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2023;19:735-748. © 2022 SETAC.