07-05-2025
Countries lagging on curbing methane emissions, new report says
Countries' pledges to cut methane aren't translating into nearly enough on-the-ground action to send emissions downward, the International Energy Agency finds in a new report.
Why it matters: The powerful planet-warming gas is responsible for nearly one-third of global temperature rise since the Industrial Revolution, IEA said.
The energy sector accounts for over 35% of methane from human activity.
The big picture: Recent years have brought moves like the Global Methane Pledge, a multinational effort launched at the 2021 UN climate summit to drive a 30% cut in human-induced emissions by 2030.
Another is the Oil and Gas Decarbonization Charter in 2023.
Reality check: While a number of oil and gas companies are curbing methane, their efforts are not yet game-changing on a global basis.
"[S]o far, few countries or companies have formulated real implementation plans for these commitments, and even fewer have demonstrated verifiable emissions reductions," IEA notes.
State of play: Record oil, gas and coal production, combined with "limited" mitigation, have kept emissions above 120 million metric tons annually, IEA said.
Agriculture is the biggest human-caused source, and waste is large, too. But energy has the greatest potential for near-term, cost-effective cuts, IEA said.
Democrats included a fee on oil and gas industry methane emissions in the 2022 climate law, but both chambers of Congress this year voted to overturn it.
Friction point: The IEA study wades into whether natural gas has a climate edge over coal on a lifecycle basis, i.e., including methane emissions in the value chain.
IEA's answer? Generally yes, but comparing gas only to coal "sets the bar too low."
The report also reveals that IEA's working on a big analysis of LNG-linked emissions and options for cutting them.
Stunning stats: This year's tracker has first-time IEA estimates of methane from abandoned infrastructure.
Former coal mines released 5 million tons last year, while another 3 million came from abandoned oil and gas wells.
"Combined, these sources would be the world's fourth-largest emitter of fossil fuel methane," IEA finds, behind operational sites in China, the U.S. and Russia.
IEA estimates around 8 million abandoned oil and gas wells globally, with many in the U.S., though they note that properly-plugged wells emit little.
