Methane Emissions from Energy Sector 70% Higher than Official Figures, Says IEA

Emmanuel Addeh

Global methane emissions from the energy sector are about 70 per cent greater than the amount national governments have officially reported, according to a new International Energy Agency (IEA) report.

The IEA noted that this underlines the urgent need for enhanced monitoring efforts and stronger policy action to drive down emissions of the potent greenhouse gas.

According to the agency, methane is responsible for around 30 per cent of the rise in global temperatures since the industrial revolution, adding that quick and sustained emission reductions are key to limiting near-term warming and improving air quality.

Methane dissipates faster than carbon dioxide but is a much more powerful greenhouse gas during its short lifespan, meaning that cutting methane emissions would have a rapid effect on limiting global warming.

The global organisation stated that the energy sector accounts for around per cent of methane emissions from human activity, saying that emissions from the energy sector grew by just under 5 per cent last year.

“At today’s elevated natural gas prices, nearly all of the methane emissions from oil and gas operations worldwide could be avoided at no net cost,” said IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol.

“The IEA has been a longstanding champion of stronger action to cut methane emissions. A vital part of those efforts is transparency on the size and location of the emissions, which is why the massive underreporting revealed by our Global Methane Tracker is so alarming,” the body said.

It said that satellites have greatly increased the world’s knowledge of emission sources, stressing that the IEA Global Methane Tracker incorporates the latest readings from satellites and other science-based measurement campaigns.

According to the body , if all methane leaks from fossil fuel operations in 2021 had been captured and sold, then natural gas markets would have been supplied with an additional 180 billion cubic metres of natural gas.

That, it said, is equivalent to all the gas used in Europe’s power sector and more than enough to ease today’s market tightness.

“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 global methane pledge launched in November by more than 110 countries at the COP26 Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, it said, marked an important step forward.

“The global methane pledge must become a landmark moment in the world’s efforts to drive down emissions.

“Cutting global methane emissions from human activities by 30 per cent 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,” said the IEA chief.