FAQs

Founded by RMI and SYSTEMIQ in 2020, MiQ is the fastest growing and most trusted climate tech not-for-profit undertaking cutting-edge work to reduce methane emissions in the oil and gas sector. Our mission is to differentiate the entire natural gas supply chain by 2030. We pioneered the use of Independently Certified Gas (ICG) to accelerate widespread reduction of methane emissions from oil and gas, and we are working with the world’s biggest oil and gas producers to provide the data to drive change.

MiQ’s Methane Standard provides a transparent, robust and data-informed grading method to certify natural gas according to its methane emissions performance during production. MiQ-accredited independent auditors perform these assessments. MiQ’s certified supply chain is comprehensive, covering from wellhead to midstream to LNG regasification, providing the sector with data on methane emissions from start to finish.

MiQ has created a market for certified gas and is working with several exchanges and platforms to facilitate trading of certified gas and MiQ Certificates.

Independently certified gas (ICG) is natural gas produced by companies whose operations are independently verified by third-party auditors. This clear, neutral assessment of natural gas provides operators with the information they need to drive down their emissions. The MiQ Standard is enabling the growth of a market for ICG to accelerate the reduction of methane emissions from the oil and gas industry.

MiQ was originally launched as a partnership between RMI, formerly the Rocky Mountain Institute,  and global sustainability consultancy SYSTEMIQ. In late 2021 MiQ became ‘The MiQ Foundation’ and uses its not for profit status to work with the industry to drive the rapid reduction of methane emissions in the oil and gas sector. 

MiQ is led by Georges Tijbosch, CEO, and has a diverse board comprising expert leaders in the field of climate action.

MiQ works with operators, or producers, in the oil and gas sector to help them undergo an independent assessment of their methane emissions performance, and leverage that data needed to inform future and ongoing reduction efforts. The operators MiQ currently works with include bp, ExxonMobil, Repsol, EQT, Chesapeake, and many more. 

All operators MiQ works with must engage an auditor to carry out an annual detailed, field-based, and rigorous assessment of natural gas production at facility level against the MiQ Standard, which they pay for.

Operators undergoing MiQ Certification can work with a wide range of innovative methane tech companies to achieve certification, ranging from detection to data solutions, analytics, and audit prep and implementation.

MiQ is actively in conversations with regulators across the world to help deliver a globally recognised standard for methane emissions. Learn more here.

To ensure transparency and enable MiQ Certification to be used around the world, gas operators can choose any independent auditor if they meet the MiQ accreditation requirements. Auditors are required to have a proven track record of working in upstream production environments and in-depth methane emissions calculation, monitoring, and mitigation expertise.

Auditor reports, which comprehensively evaluate a facility’s methane emissions performance and recommend a certificate grade, are reviewed by MiQ and its appointed Issuing Body, Evident. Once approved, MiQ Certificates are issued into the MiQ Digital Registry.

MiQ and its auditors assess the methane emissions at facility (asset or platform) level. Our granular approach means that different facilities operated by the same company can end up with a different grading.

For each unit (1 MMBtu) of gas produced at a certified facility, a producer receives an MiQ certificate in their account on the MiQ Digital Registry every month.

The MiQ Digital Registry is a secure digital ledger where all MiQ Certificates are held from issuance to retirement, providing clarity on all MiQ Certificates by tracking certified gas from production through to retirement by the end-user. This ecosystem creates transparency around methane emissions, prevents double-counting, and enables end-users to claim the environmental credentials for their GHG reporting. The Registry has an ultra-low fee structure.

MiQ is designed to be flexible and adaptable. We actively work in partnership with Equitable Origin on several projects, as it has a proven track record of certifying energy production on ESG indicators in accordance with its EO100™ Standard for Responsible Energy Development, a set of rigorous ESG performance targets for energy development projects.

MiQ certified gas provides natural gas buyers with greater transparency on methane emissions so they can better understand what they’re buying and the impact it is having on the planet. With certified gas, buyers can choose lower emissions natural gas which can help with:

• Scope 3 emissions accounting
• Net zero and ESG reporting claims
• Employee retention and recruitment
• Stakeholder expectations

MiQ’s core principles include:

• Transparent, robust standards: the MiQ Standard is published on the MiQ website.
• Third-party audit: impartial auditors or verifiers are a critical ingredient to any certification program.
• Scalable and marketable: MiQ’s Certification is traceable using the MiQ Digital Registry. It is also scalable due to being technology-agnostic and allowing a range of auditors.
• Prevents cherry-picking: MiQ is encouraging all operators undergoing certification to eventually expand certification to all their assets.

Methane abatement is more vital now than ever before, and oil and gas emissions are low-hanging fruit. MiQ supports the transition to a 100% renewable future, but we can address methane now to help meet global climate targets.

Methane has more than 80 times the global warming potential of CO2, so reducing it helps buy time. The oil and gas industry emits the equivalent of 7bn tonnes of CO2 per annum but has the tools to abate up to 5.7bn tonnes by 2030. This would get us nearly 20% of the way toward halving annual GHG emissions and is equivalent to taking 1.2bn polluting cars off the road.