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EDMONTON — New research suggests industry and government are badly underestimating Alberta’s emissions of one of the most potent greenhouse gases.

The difference between official estimates and the measured results suggests the province’s energy industry could have to double its planned methane emission cuts if Alberta is to meet its promised 45 per cent reduction.

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“A lot of eyes are going to be really wide when they see the comparison,” said Carleton University’s Matt Johnson, author of the study published in Environmental Science and Technology. “If we thought it was bad, it’s worse.”

Currently, industry is only required to report how much methane is released during flaring and venting. So-called fugitive emissions from equipment such as leaky valves have only been estimated.

Johnson’s study is the first to use aerial flyovers of oil and gas fields to actually measure released methane, a greenhouse gas about 30 times more powerful than carbon dioxide.