Coal pollution mitigation to encourage the introduction of coal pollution mitigation and other technologies to reduce environmental impact. Combustion of coal--which is mostly carbon--produces carbon dioxide as a product of combustion. According to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the burning of coal, a fossil fuel, is a significant contributor to global warming. (See the UN IPCC Fourth Assessment Report). For 1 ton of coal burned, 2.86 tons of carbon dioxide is created. Carbon sequestration technology has yet to be tested on a large scale and may not be safe or successful. Sequestered CO may eventually leak up through the ground,
Gas leak and carbon monoxide present in natural gas. The expression "canary in a coal mine" derives from the historical practice of using a canary as an animal sentinel to detect toxic naturally occurring coal gas. Methane, the primary constituent of natural gas, is up to 120 times as potent a greenhouse gas as carbon dioxide. Thus, the release of unburned natural gas produces much stronger effects than the carbon dioxide that would have been released if the gas had been burned as intended. In the United States, most state and federal agencies have adopted the Gas Piping and Technology Committee (GPTC)