Emissions

South Korea’s Ministry of Environmental (MoE) recently revised the country's enforcement rules on volatile organic compounds (VOCs), under the Clean Air Conservation Act.The revisions include:- Expand existing requirements that mandate companies to monitor VOC emissions and record them;- Adding 11 substances to the list of VOCs that must be monitored and collected under the Act;- Imposing a maximum limit of 67% VOC content in paints; and- Impose stricter requirements on crude oil refining facilities, which emit arsenic acids.The ministry believes this implementation will reduce VOC emissions from the oil refining and paint industries by 15%.

Japan has released a long-term climate strategy for climate action. Prior to the United Kingdom's announcement that it would legislate to net zero by 2050, the world’s third largest economy approved a plan stating, 'a carbon-neutral society as the final goal, to be realized at the earliest possible time in the latter half of this century'.The strategy builds on Japan's 2016 pledge to reduce  emissions by 80% by 2050 from 2010 levels, and lays out strategies to innovate in areas such as hydrogen and carbon dioxide capture and utilization.

Research from the University of Texas in Austin has shown that injecting air and carbon dioxide into methane ice deposits buried beneath the Gulf of Mexico could have the potential to unlock natural gas energy resources, while also trapping the carbon dioxide underground.The study was published in the journal Water Resources Research, which used computer models to simulate what would happen when mixtures of carbon dioxide and air were injected into deposits of methane hydrate, a water-rich, almost ice-like chemical compound that forms in high-pressure and low-temperature environments, like the Gulf of Mexico and the Arctic circle.

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory under the U.S.Department of Energy has been awarded $6 million USD to find methane 'super emitters' to help quantify and potentially mitigate methane emissions.

VTT and LUT University in association with Finnish companies have developed a method for evaluating and communicating on the carbon handprint of products.

Climate change is one of the biggest challenges and economic opportunities, which is why the Government of Canada has committed to championing projects that will reduce emissions and drive job creation.