The leak has launched large quantities of methane into the atmosphere.

Earlier this week, seismologists detected several notable explosions in the vicinity of the Nord Stream gas pipeline in international waters. These explosions have been linked to large leaks found on the pipeline, which have been leaking large quantities of methane gas. The precise cause of the leak, and whether or not it was a deliberate act, have not yet been determined, but the burst of methane into the Earth’s atmosphere has climate scientists concerned.

Compared to the overall emissions created by the countries of the world, the methane leak isn’t particular gigantic. Even so, climate activists have stressed that, were these kinds of leaks to happen repeatedly and on a large scale (and many already do), the damage to the atmosphere could be severe, which puts the need for renewable energies in starker contrast.

“The massive roiling water due to the leak as we have seen in imagery is symbolic of the enormous amount of fossil fuel that the world is combusting,” Jeffrey Kargel, senior scientist at Planetary Research Institute in Tucson, Arizona, told CNBC.

“The global climate is changing drastically, with huge impacts on extreme climate mounting every year, decade after decade. It is such an extreme climate change that just about every adult age person on Earth knows it from first-hand experience,” he added. “We can literally feel it on our skin.”

“Risks of sabotage or accident make fossil fuel infrastructure a ticking time bomb, but even on a good day oil and gas pipes and storage leak methane constantly,” Silvia Pastorelli, EU climate and energy campaigner at environmental group Greenpeace, told CNBC.

“Behind all these numbers of cubic metres and megatonnes are real dangers for real people, this potent greenhouse gas is accelerating the climate crisis leading to worse heatwaves like Europe had this summer or more devastating like storms the one battering Florida now,” she added.