Example
Flares can destroy methane, converting most of it to CO₂ and water when operating properly.
The catch
Efficiency, uptime and unlit periods affect actual emissions.
In more depth
Flaring, explained.
Flaring is the lesser of two bad options when gas cannot be used. Mass for mass, methane warms about 80 times as much as CO₂ over 20 years, so burning it to CO₂ beats venting it raw. Burning still wastes a fuel and adds CO₂, soot and local air pollution, and the IEA treats capturing and using the gas as the better route wherever a pipeline or local use exists.
Oil fields flare gas that arrives with the oil when nobody has built the means to sell it, and satellites can see those flames at night, which lets researchers track flaring country by country. At landfills, a flare often serves as backup to engines that turn the gas into power, a form of methane-to-energy.