As of November 2021 we began to conduct short interviews with members of our community. The purpose is to get to know better our fellow Methane Mondays experts, learn about their opinions on various methane-related issues, and thus identify the main points of disagreements among the participants of our sessions.
During all interviews we use the same set of predetermined questions known to our interlocutors in advance. They are followed by a short 10 - 15 minute-long discussion, the direction of which is determined by the responses that we receive to the above-mentioned questions.
The list of interviews (in alphabetical order):
(Please click on the screenshots below to access the videos)
1. Interview with Mr. Ozgur Acir, President, Jade Association of Geological Research
"... methane emissions, are the result of our activities and their impact on our planet. We cannot regulate the emissions via paperwork unless we learn to regulate our own consumer behaviors. First we must learn to respect each other as persons, members of a family or a country, then we must learn to respect our earth and its resources ..."
2. Interview with Mr. Artur Badylak, Director, Office of Degassing and Energy Utilities Management, JSW S.A.
"... Any international methane regulation should be fair to everyone. All mining companies in the world should be subject to the same rules. […] It should [also] use a carrot not a stick ..."
3. Interview with Mr. David Creedy, Managing Director CMM & VAM, Sindicatum Sustainable Resources
“… there is only one effective treatment to prevent CMM emissions and that is to leave the coal in the ground …”
4. Interview with Mr. Scott Foster, Director, Sustainable Energy Division, UNECE
"... I think [global methane regulation] would be ideal, but I don't think we're going to be able to get there quickly, so I'd rather have a near term benefit as soon as possible ..."
5. Interview with Mr. Owen Ji, Vice-director, International Business Department, Marketing Center, Xi'an Research Institute, CCTEG
“… it is all about cost and technology innovation. If methane utilisation and extraction is not profitable, no coal mining company will treat it as a resource …”
6. Interview with Mr. Brian Ricketts, Secretary-General, EURACOAL
"... [the Methane Regulation proposed by] the European Commission [is] a draconian piece of legislation in the case of hard coal mining ..."
7. Interview with Mr. Alexey Shlyapin, Deputy Director, the Institute of Comprehensive Exploitation of Mineral Resources
"... we need to develop an international monitoring system, which will provide the big data about the emissions ..."
8. Interview with Mr. Anatoli Smirnov, Coal Mine Methane Analyst, EMBER
“… methane is a global problem and solutions are also likely to be global …”
9. Interview with Ms. Justyna Swolkień, Professor, AGH University of Science & Technology
"... we should mainly focus on utilization of methane [...] also trying to increase the efficiency of methane drainage ..."
10. Interview with Mr. Oleg Tailakov, General Director, Scientific Center for Industrial and Environmental Safety in Mining Industry (VostNII)
“… incentives may include […] reduced taxation for the companies applying CMM utilization technologies […] and simplified mechanisms for the sale of electricity produced by CMM to the consumers …”
11. Interview with Mr. Clark Talkington, Vice-President, Advanced Resources International, Inc.
"... there are the carrots and the sticks [...]; in my experience, what I've seen most effective is actually a carrot, which is a market based incentive ..."
12. Interview with Mr. Grant Wach, Professor, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada
“… there is no green energy. There's renewable energy, but every energy source has a cost …”
13. Interview with Mr. Matt Watson, Vice President, Energy Transition, Environmental Defense Fund
“… we need to have a conversation with financial community. […] The conversation in the coming year with that community is going to be critical …”