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Imagine taking all the cars in British Columbia and Alberta off the road to reduce greenhouse gases. Those seven-million-plus vehicles have as much impact on global warming as the constant, small leaks of natural gas that escape from pipelines, valves and other equipment across Canada.

The small leaks, called fugitive emissions, are invisible and do not smell. But can be detected by infrared cameras in many places, from drilling operations to storage tanks to pipelines transporting natural gas. They are emerging as a major issue in the fight to slow climate change, says Chris Severson-Baker of the Pembina Institute, a clean energy think-tank.

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The institute wants the provincial government, as part of its new climate change strategy, to require the oil and gas industry to reduce by half the current level of fugitive emissions, according to a new study obtained by the Journal.

Using existing technology, the oil and gas industry could reduce emissions by 16 megatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent in Alberta alone, says the new joint study by the Pembina Institute and the Texas branch of the U.S.-based Environmental Defense Fund.