Emissions Integrity Is Defense Integrity: How Differentiated Gas Can Support National Security

Differentiated Gas Coordinating Council Blog

May 19, 2023

As Congress begins the long negotiation process to craft this year’s National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), lawmakers should consider using an existing low-cost method to improve the Department of Defense’s (DOD) sustainability efforts: differentiated natural gas.

Under Executive Order (EO) 14057, President Biden directed the DOD to reduce its environmental impacts. The EO directs the federal government to “lead by example in order to achieve… net-zero emissions economy-wide by no later than 2050.” The various military branches have set ambitious goals for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. For example, the Army will implement a 50% GHG reduction below 2005 levels by 2030 and net zero GHG by 2050; the Navy will implement a 65% GHG reduction below 2008 levels by 2030 and net zero GHG by 2050. How can these lofty goals be achieved without compromising the DOD’s tactical, operational, and strategic objectives?

While the President’s EO should be lauded for its objectives, the government’s ability to achieve these objectives will require some creative thinking. While renewable energy plays an important role in the nation’s energy mix, natural gas is likely to continue to play an important role in providing affordable, reliable, and flexible power for public and private consumers for decades to come. The most pressing concern of natural gas production is its major contribution to harmful GHG emissions, particularly methane. Methane is a potent GHG with a much higher global warming potential than carbon dioxide. Differentiated natural gas can help bridge the need to mitigate GHG emissions with the reality that natural gas continues to play an important role, especially for the DOD.

Differentiated gas, also called “certified gas,” is natural gas that is verified by an independent third party as having been produced using best practices to mitigate methane emissions and minimize other environmental and community impacts.

Purchasing certified gas is an easy way to verify that an organization is reducing its emissions. Independent organizations verify each unit of gas at all points in the supply chain and use advanced technology to provide accurate accounts of emissions. The DOD need not make any changes to its operations—only purchase more responsible versions of the materials it already uses. This will have an immediate impact on the department’s environmental impacts.

The DOD uses a significant quantity of natural gas—in 2021 alone, the department consumed over 70 billion cubic feet of natural gas to meet the energy needs of its operations and facilities. However, if all of the natural gas procured by the DOD were certified low-methane, DOD emissions associated with natural gas could be reduced up to 85%— the carbon footprint equivalent of over 3.2 billion miles driven by an average gasoline-powered passenger vehicle.

As a major energy consumer, the DOD needs to reduce its emissions. However, the DOD is not like other organizations—it must remain at peak operational capacity, no matter the stage of the energy transition. Differentiated gas bridges the gap between the importance of reliable energy sources and the need for defense to go green. Full knowledge about the emissions attributes of the DOD’s energy use is one step closer to the department becoming more sustainable—in a sustainable way.