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Gas flaring increases for a third consecutive year, World Bank reports
30/6/2026
News
Around 167bn m3 of natural gas was flared in 2025, wasting an estimated $54bn of fuel, according to the latest analysis by the Word Bank. The news came as the UN launched a renewed push to reduce methane emissions from the oil and gas sector.
Global gas flaring rose for the third consecutive year in 2025, reaching its highest level since 2019 despite the availability of technologies capable of capturing and using associated gas – this was the headline finding of the World Bank’s latest Global gas flaring tracker.
The report estimates that 167bn m3 of gas was flared during the year, a 6% increase on 2024. The gas burned was worth an estimated $54bn and was equivalent to Africa’s total annual gas consumption.
Gas flaring contributes significantly to greenhouse gas emissions. The report estimates that flaring in 2025 generated around 389mn tCO2e, including methane released through incomplete combustion. It says gas that could otherwise support energy security or economic development is instead being burned at the wellhead rather than captured for productive use.
The report asserts that technologies to capture and use associated gas are already widely available. Progress remains constrained in many producing regions, however, by limited pipeline and processing infrastructure, insufficient investment, underdeveloped gas markets and inconsistent regulatory frameworks.
It also found that flaring increased faster than oil production during 2025, indicating that recent progress in reducing flaring intensity has stalled. However, the report points to some positive examples, including Kazakhstan, which has reduced flaring by 87% since 2012. The US has also curtailed flaring, with new pipeline infrastructure contributing to the largest absolute reduction in flaring during 2025. The report says such examples prove sustained policy and infrastructure investment can deliver significant improvements.
The report was published as international attention turned to methane emissions. Speaking during London Climate Action Week, UN Secretary General António Guterres launched a global call for faster action, saying methane is responsible for around one-third of global warming and that 70% of methane emissions from the oil and gas sector could be eliminated using existing technologies, much of it at low or no net cost. He also called for governments to adopt a new global standard of near-zero methane emissions across the oil and gas value chain.
Industry groups also welcomed the renewed focus. The Oil and Gas Climate Initiative (OGCI) said its member companies had collectively reduced methane emissions by 63% since 2017 and routine flaring by 72% since 2018. The organisation said these reductions demonstrate that large-scale progress is achievable through improved monitoring, operational practices and collaboration.
Energy Institute gas flaring data
The 2026 Energy Institute Statistical Review of World Energy, published on 30 June, also tracked methane emissions (in CO2 equivalent), carbon emitted from gas flaring and carbon emissions from energy, by country, to the end of 2025.
It found that global CO2 emissions from energy, gas flaring and methane rose by 1.1% to 41,000mn tCO2 in 2025. Remarkably, just over a third (36%) of that rise was in the US. Its year-on-year growth in emissions (3.2%) was almost three times the global growth (1.1%). The only region that exceeded that rate was Africa, which is growing from a small base (and amounts to less than a fifth of North America’s total energy supply).
In 2025, the Asia-Pacific region improved the carbon intensity of its energy production, but remained the world’s greatest emitter, with 54% of global emissions from energy (19,200mn tCO2).
