The ruptures on the Nord Stream gas pipelines are the largest methane releases ever recorded, according to the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).

A few days ago, methane emissions monitoring company GHGSat suggested the rate of emission was equivalent to 285,763 kilograms of coal burning every hour.

The firm used satellites to monitor the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline leak – the leak was detected and quantified last Friday and the estimated emission rate was 22,920 kilograms per hour.

Initial calculations from the Danish Energy Agency show that the leaks from the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines, in the worst case will emit approximately 778 million standard cubic metres of natural gas.

The leaked gas volume amounts to greenhouse gas emissions of approximately 14.6 million tonnes of CO2-equivalent (CO2e).

In comparison, Danish CO2e emissions totalled approximately 45 million tonnes of CO2e in 2020.