Energy Methane Stays Above 120 Million Tonnes. The IEA Says Fixing It Could Have Freed 100 bcm of Gas in 2024

The International Energy Agency published its Global Methane Tracker 2025 on 7 May. The annual update gives the agency's estimates of methane emissions from oil, gas and coal, based on satellite data, measurement campaigns and reported figures, and assesses the cost of reducing them. Its central finding is that methane emissions from the energy sector remain above 120 million tonnes a year, sustained by record production of oil, gas and coal and by limited mitigation so far.

The fossil fuel sector accounts for nearly a third of global methane emissions from human activity, according to the IEA. The IEA says its estimate is considerably higher than the levels implied by official reporting. Abandoned wells are a particular issue in long-producing regions such as the United States and Canada, where millions of wells have been drilled over more than a century, and where responsibility for plugging older wells can be unclear when operators have gone out of business.

The IEA estimates that around 70% of annual methane emissions from the energy sector could be avoided with existing technologies. Typical measures include leak detection and repair programmes, replacing gas-driven pneumatic devices with electric or compressed-air versions, installing vapour recovery units on storage tanks, and ending routine venting and flaring. The tracker finds a very wide range in methane intensity across countries and companies, with the best performers outperforming the worst by a factor of 100.

The IEA frames methane abatement as an energy security issue as well as a climate one. For importing regions such as Europe and parts of Asia, which have relied on LNG to replace Russian pipeline gas, additional supply from reduced leakage and flaring in producing countries could ease market tightness. Current methane pledges by companies and countries cover about 80% of global oil and gas production, according to the IEA. Other producers, including Canada, Norway, Nigeria and several Gulf states, have adopted or announced methane rules or targets of varying stringency.