Burning methane in a power plant rather than coal is generally a good idea as natural gas produces less CO2 than coal - about 40% as much for equivalent amounts of delivered energy. The problem is that methane (which is what natural gas mostly is) is a very potent green house gas and relatively small leaks can erase the benefits of using natural gas.
This is also an issue in natural gas fueled vehicles and, since gasoline and diesel lie between natural gas and coal in carbon output, one must be even more careful about leakage.
A start, and perhaps the major path taken, but real solution is to stay away from fossil fuels entirely.
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