Coal Mine Methane Science Studies Road Map

Background

This document provides a road map for the coal mine methane (CMM) science studies coordinated by the United Nations Environment Programme’s International Methane Emissions Observatory (IMEO). It summarizes and builds upon an IMEO commissioned literature review report (Phase 1) entitled “Coal Mine Methane Emissions: Sources, Mitigation Potential, Monitoring and Emissions Quantification” written by Durucan et al. (2022). After introducing our current understanding of CMM emissions we present a road map for CMM field measurement studies (Phase 2). This road map is set by a series of questions designed to assess our current understanding of global CMM emissions to the atmosphere, provide information to fill knowledge gaps, improve reporting of emissions, and facilitate mitigation of methane emissions from specific CMM sources. We provide further details for one on-going CMM science field measurement study being performed in Poland to clarify the goals of this road map. Finally, the next steps for the CMM science studies road map are noted.