Energy sector produces 70% more methane emissions: IEA

Global methane emissions from oil, gas and coal are about 70 percent higher than what governments officially report, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in an analysis released on Wednesday.

“The Global Methane Pledge must become a landmark moment in the world’s efforts to drive down emissions,” said IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol. “Cutting global methane emissions from human activities by 30 percent by the end of this decade would have the same effect on global warming by 2050 as shifting the entire transport sector to net zero CO2 emissions.”

The energy sector is believed to make up to 40 percent of methane emissions from human activity. According to the Global Methane Tracker by IEA, the methane emissions from the energy sector grew by 5 percent since last year and were not brought down to the 2019 levels.

Methane gas is responsible for around 30 percent of the increase in global temperatures since the industrial revolution. Governments around the world signed the Global Methane Pledge during COP26 to limit the gas emissions which dissipates faster than carbon into the atmosphere. Cutting methane emissions would have a faster effect on limiting global warming.

According to the pledge, participants agreed to reduce methane emissions from human activities by 30 percent by 2030. However, more major emitters China, Russia, Iran and India need to join the pledge.

“The intensity of methane emissions from fossil fuel operations range widely from country to country: the best performing countries and companies are over 100 times better than the worst,” the IEA said in a statement.

“Global methane emissions from oil and gas operations would fall by more than 90 percent if all producing countries matched Norway’s emissions intensity, the lowest worldwide,” the agency added.

The Paris based watchdog said the global efforts needed to step up its monitoring efforts and policy action to regulate the emissions of the gas.