Governments massively underreporting methane emissions – IEA

Agency says that, at current gas prices, nearly all methane emissions from oil and gas operations could be avoided at no net cost

Global methane emissions from the energy sector are about 70pc greater than officially reported by national governments, the IEA says. The agency says it uncovered this “alarming” underreporting when updating its Global Methane Tracker report, which uses data from satellites and other science-based measurement campaigns. Significant emissions were confirmed in Texas and parts of Central Asia in 2021, with Turkmenistan alone responsible for one-third of large emissions events seen by satellites that year. Relatively few major leaks were detected for the major onshore oil and gas producers in the Middle East, the IEA says. “The IEA has been a longstanding champion of stronger action to cut met