Governments, industry must up action on methane

A global methane monitoring system has so far alerted governments and companies to over 1,200 major plumes of the potent greenhouse gas. But it has only received responses detailing the cause of the emissions and action taken in 1% of cases, said a new UN report. 

The Methane Alert and Response System (MARS), which detects releases of the gas responsible for about a third of planetary heating so far, uses satellite data to help industry and states identify and deal with large methane emissions. 

MARS is up and running, said operator United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), which is also using artificial intelligence to scan satellite data and pinpoint emissions. However, too few emitters are engaging with the new tools, according to the latest An Eye on Methane report. 

Human activities are responsible for around 60% of the methane released into the atmosphere. It can come from agriculture, including flatulent cows and manure fertilizer, decomposing waste in landfills and the fossil energy sector when oil and gas companies produce, transport and store the fuels.

Methane traps around 84 times as much heat as CO2 over a 20-year-timescale, but also disappears quickly in comparison. While the greenhouse gas causes a lot of damage in its short life, it's also much quicker to eliminate than CO2, particularly if oil and gas companies plug leaks and stop practices like venting and flaring, which release methane into the atmosphere.

In the agency's 2024 Eye on Methane report, Dechen Tsering, acting director of UNEP's Climate Change Division, described slashing methane emissions as an "emergency brake" to slow global warming.

"The science is clear: cutting methane is the fastest and most cost-effective way to mitigate near-term warming and avoid worsening climate damage," said Tsering. This year is set to be the hottest on record. 

Speaking in Baku, Azerbaijan on Friday at the UN climate summit to launch the Eye on Methane report, Inger Andersen, executive director of the UN Environment Program, said that MARS technology is one of the "simplest and fastest actions we can take to slow global temperature rise."

"It is easier than changing the energy infrastructure of a nation," she added of efforts to plug methane leaks. 

Underreporting, lack of action on methane

Nearly 160 countries have signed up to slash emissions by 30% by 2030 under the Global Methane Emissions Pledge launched in 2021 at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland. At COP28 in Dubai, oil and gas companies making up close to half of global production vowed to cut methane emissions to near zero by the end of the decade. 

But a recent study found emissions are skyrocketing faster than ever and that atmospheric concentrations of methane are the highest in 800,000 years. UNEP also pointed to a gap between the reporting of industry methane emissions and actual levels detected in the atmosphere.

The UN agency called for more oil and gas companies to sign up for its Oil and Gas Methane Partnership 2.0 (OGMP), which currently has about 140 members and is moving to provide more accurate methane emissions measurements using MARS and AI.

More precise data will help to "drive accountability" but must be backed by action, wrote Tsering in the report. That UNEP received so few responses to major methane plume alerts "underscores that data alone is not enough."

Andersen reiterated that monitoring methane leaks in waste management, agriculture and steel production will be vital. 

"Let me stress, however, that cutting methane is not a get out of jail free card," she added. "We still need to decarbonize our economies." 

'Loopholes' in industry methane pledges

But London-based think tank Carbon Tracker has accused oil and gas companies of "exacerbating the climate crisis" regarding methane. It identified "major loopholes" in pledges to reach "near-zero" methane emissions in a report published Thursday.

One loophole is that none of the 30 companies analyzed have set targets that "cover all methane emissions related to their business activities." 

Many of the companies operate gas pipelines and LNG tankers, which can emit methane but are not covered in most pledges. The same goes for joint ventures that companies do not operate directly. These are often located in countries with lower methane standards and high average methane intensities. Carbon Tracker called this a "blind spot" for many oil and gas majors because such ventures can account for a large chunk of corporate emissions. 

The report also stated that around 25 to 30 oil and gas producers had committed to ending "routine" flaring by 2030. The practice involves releasing the small amount of gas that comes out of the ground during oil extraction — because it is too expensive to process and transport. 

But Carbon Tracker said this only makes up a small part of companies' total flaring, which also happens to reduce dangerous increases in pressure. According to the report, few companies have said they will eliminate all non-emergency flaring.

"Oil and gas companies are paying lip service to climate action while emissions from their products are fueling increasingly severe storms, droughts, floods and heat waves around the world," said Olivia Bisel, lead author and associate oil and gas analyst at Carbon Tracker, in a statement. 

US announces new methane fine for polluters

Oil and gas companies in the US will have to pay a federal fine if they emit super-polluting methane above certain levels, under a new Biden administration rule announced at the UN climate conference in Baku on Tuesday. 

The fine grows "incrementally to $1,500 per metric ton in 2026." It is meant to encourage industry to reduce emissions from the oil and gas sector — the country's biggest source of methane.

The US has also started a Methane Super Emitter Program portal, which uses satellite data to spot leaks and alert companies of them. The companies are required to investigate and respond to leaks under the Environmental Protection Agency's oil and gas methane rule, according to a statement.

The new methane rules come a day after President-elect Donald Trump tapped former New York Congressman Lee Zeldin for the EPA's top job. Zeldin is expected to overturn or water down dozens of environmental regulations, and said he wants to "restore US energy dominance." 

Edited by: Tamsin Walker