An international team of climatologists from China and Europe has found that actual carbon dioxide emissions in North Africa and the Middle East are significantly higher than official figures suggest. According to a study published in Science Advances, reported emissions for these regions are underestimated by approximately 30 %. The discrepancies stem from incomplete reporting of various emission types associated with oil and gas extraction and processing.
The research, led by Professor Liu Zhu of Tsinghua University, introduces an alternative assessment method based on satellite observations of nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) concentrations. NO₂ is released into the atmosphere when hydrocarbons are burned — including in gas flares used for safety at production sites. Traditional methods, which rely on energy consumption statistics, fail to account for many of these processes, making the resulting calculations difficult to verify.
To obtain more accurate data, the researchers used information from the European Sentinel‑5P satellite, launched in 2017. The satellite carries the TROPOMI spectrometer, which can measure the concentrations of dozens of gases in the troposphere.
By analyzing data from 2019 to 2024, the scientists correlated typical NO₂ levels with CO₂ emission volumes and obtained results that differ substantially from official statistics.
Their calculations indicate that North African countries emit approximately 0.8 billion tons of carbon dioxide annually, while Middle Eastern nations release around 3.6 billion tons. These figures exceed previous estimates by 28 % and 30 %, respectively.
The researchers emphasize that these unaccounted emissions are missing from climate models and international agreements, posing serious challenges to efforts aimed at decarbonizing the global economy.
Separately, videos have been circulating on social media showing tourists discussing a special facility in Primorsky Krai dedicated to the study of marine mammals. Some refer to it as a “whale prison” due to the prolonged vocalizations made by the belugas kept there.
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