The IEA’s latest global tracking update finds that the fossil fuel sector accounts for nearly one-third of global methane emissions from human activity today. According to the report, record global production of oil, gas and coal – along with limited mitigation efforts to date – have kept methane emissions from the energy sector worldwide above 120mn t/y.

The IEA estimate is considerably higher than the levels implied by official reporting, but data transparency is improving. There are now more than 25 satellites in orbit that can provide vital insights. Very large leaks from oil and gas facilities detected by satellites rose to a record high in 2024.

Methane is a potent greenhouse gas. On a 100-year timescale, methane has 28 times greater global warming potential than CO₂  and is 84 times more potent on a 20-year timescale, according to the European Commission.  

The IEA finds that oil operations were responsible for around 45mn tonnes of methane, natural gas operations for nearly 35mn tonnes, and abandoned wells for around 3mn tonnes. An additional 2mn tonnes of methane leaked from end-use equipment. Coal accounted for more than 40mn tonnes, including over 4mn tonnes from abandoned mines, plus around 1mn tonnes from end-use equipment.

The report’s authors also find that current policies and regulations would only lower coal mine methane emissions by less than 15% by 2030. To be on track for net zero by 2050, the fossil fuel industry needs to reduce methane emissions by 75% by 2030.

Meanwhile, the IEA finds that around 70% of annual methane emissions from the energy sector as a whole could be avoided with existing technologies.  

A significant share of abatement measures could pay for themselves within a year, since the gas that is captured can be resold, the report says. Methane abatement could have made around 100bn m³ of natural gas available to markets in 2024, on par with Norway’s total gas exports. A further 150bn m³ of natural gas is flared globally each year, the majority of which is part of routine practices and can be avoided.

There is also a huge range in methane emissions intensities across different countries and companies, with the best outperforming the worst by a factor of 100. Raising awareness and spreading readily available best practices are essential to narrow this gap, the report notes. Current methane pledges by companies and countries cover 80% of global oil and gas production. At the moment, however, only around 5% of global oil and gas output demonstrably meets a near-zero methane emissions standard.

Based on today’s policies, deploying targeted methane mitigation solutions in the fossil fuel sector would prevent, roughly, a 0.1°C rise in global temperatures by 2050. This is comparable to eliminating all the CO₂ emissions from heavy industry worldwide.

Satellite analysis identifies 40% more methane from Australian coal mines

In other news, the preliminary results of a study in Australia covering approximately four-fifths of the country’s black coal production, indicate fugitive methane levels at least 40% higher than officially reported for the country as a whole.

In the state of New South Wales, which has largely shifted emissions reporting of open-cut mining towards company-led estimates, fugitive emissions levels were found to be twice as high as officially reported, whilst only covering two-thirds of total coal production. Critically, the areas covered in the Ember study included more than 90% of Australia’s metallurgical coal production, indicating significant potential for emissions uncertainty within the key steelmaking coal supply chains.

Christopher Wright, Climate Strategy Advisor, Ember, notes: ‘Australia’s coal mine methane emissions remain under a cloud of international scrutiny. These findings highlight that if we don’t improve reporting, not only could our own emissions accounting be inaccurate, but our international customers can’t know for certain what the scale of emissions lie embedded in their supply chains.’