MEMO2: A success story

MEMO², our EU Marie Skłodowska-Curie Training Network, ended this year. And the European Commission has officially acknowledged it as a success story! This short article explains why they did this and what our research means to society. 

The main goal of MEMO² is to identify methane (CH4) emissions to support mitigation measures. Methane is the second most important anthropogenic greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide (CO2), and its emissions have a huge impact on climate and climate change mitigation strategies. Just how important this topic is, is demonstrated by the EU Methane Strategy just adopted by the European Commission as part of the Green Deal, and the recent creation of the International Methane Emission Observatory (IMEO) by the UN Environmental Programme.

The MEMO² network
Because of its importance for climate change, numerous ongoing projects worldwide study the role of methane in the environment. MEMO² was unique in the sense that it combined novel measurement and modelling tools. By doing so, it bridged the gap between large-scale emission estimates from models and the bottom-up estimates from local sources. This is a large task and requires an international and interdisciplinary team. Interdisciplinarity in knowledge and techniques typically increase complexity, yet are essential to meet and verify CH4 emission reduction goals. To meet that target, MEMO²  trained a new generation of highly motivated Early Stage Researchers. More than 20 universities and institutes contributed to MEMO², covering emissions from the three most important anthropogenic sources: fossil fuel production and its use, agriculture and waste. 

Reducing CH4 emissions
To mitigate climate change, new knowledge must be used not only to detect, but also to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The earlier and the more the better. That is why MEMO² not only measured and identified CH4 sources, but also actively contributed to reduce them. Highlights include measurement campaigns in several European cities and in Romania in collaboration with universities, instrument developers, service providers, oil & gas distributing and producing companies, but also national ministries. The campaigns were designed to identify big methane leaks, and to subsequently reduce or even halt these avoidable emissions.

Field campaigns
In several cities, MEMO² used mobile systems to monitor CH4 emissions at individual street level, characterise their sources and reduce these were possible. In e.g. Hamburg, Germany, our results led to a reduction of CH4 emissions by 50% for the entire city, just by finding and fixing gas leaks! The campaign in Romania, called ROMEO, involved more than 70 scientists from 20 nations. Using atmospheric measurements we quantified CH4 emissions from individual oil and gas production facilities, as well as the integrated CH4 emission of production basins. More than 1000 facilities have been visited, and our recommendations led to leaks being fixed and a raised awareness on how to find and avoid them in the future. 

Sustainability of the network
We are confident that MEMO² has led to better understanding, better model predictions, and a better climate with less CH4 emissions! Now that the project has ended, all MEMO² infrastructure is available for future use. Also, all data and scientific results are or will soon become publicly available, for others to use and build their research on. These are the reasons why MEMO² ended as an acknowledged success story! And we are highly motivated to continue our efforts... 

Sylvia Walter and Thomas Röckmann