Differentiating and Mitigating Methane Emissions from Fugitive Leaks from Natural Gas Distribution, Historic Landfills, and Manholes in Montréal, Canada

Rapidly reducing urban methane (CH) emissions is a critical component of strategies aimed at limiting climate change. Individual source measurements provide the details necessary to develop actionable mitigation strategies and are highly complementary to mobile surveys and other top-down methods. Here, we perform 615 individual source measurements in Montréal, Canada, to quantify CH emissions from historic landfills, manholes, and fugitive emissions from natural gas (NG) distribution systems. We find that in 2020, historic landfills produced 901 (452 to 1541, 95% c.i.) tons of CH, manholes emitted 786 (32 to 2602, 95% c.i.) tons of CH, and NG distribution systems emitted 451 (176-843, 95% c.i.) tons of CH, placing them all within the top four CH sources in Montréal. Methane emissions from both historic landfills and manholes are not accounted for in any greenhouse gas inventory. We find that geochemistry alone cannot positively identify source subcategories (e.g., type of manhole or NG infrastructure) in almost all cases, although C/C ratios can distinguish NG distribution sources from biogenic sources (historic landfills and manholes). Using our individual source measurement data, we show that historic landfills have the greatest potential for CH reductions but the highest mitigation costs, unless we target the highest emitting landfills. In contrast, CH emissions from manholes can be reduced at low costs, but reduction methods are commercially unavailable. For NG distribution, methods such as increasing repair rates for high-emitting industrial meters can greatly reduce mitigation costs and emissions. Overall, our results highlight the role of individual source measurements in developing actionable CH mitigation strategies to meet municipal, regional, and national climate action plans.