The International Energy Agency has said there is an historic opportunity to turn the corner on methane emissions and make a big impact on global temperature rise by the middle of this century.
Speaking at a briefing on the IEA's Methane Tracker, the agency’s Chief Energy Economist Tim Gould said that if available technology was used to cut methane emissions from oil and gas, it could have the same impact as switching all the road transport, ships and aircraft in the world to electric motors.
He described it as "the lowest of the low hanging fruit" when it comes to climate measures.
Methane is a potent greenhouse gas and is estimated to be responsible for 30% of global temperature rise in the industrial era.
The IEA Methane tracker, which uses data newly available from satellite images in addition to information from other sources, found that global methane emissions are 70% higher than reported by national governments.
Satellite images show large leaks from oil and gas operations, particularly in Texas and Central Asia.
Turkmenistan accounted for one-third of all large emission events recorded by satellites in 2021.
The IEA estimates that if all gas from fossil fuels leaks in 2021 had been captured and sold it would have come to 180 trillion cubic metres of methane, equal to all the gas used by Europe's energy sector and enough to ease the current tightness in the gas market.
We just released our new comprehensive Global Methane Tracker 📢
— International Energy Agency (@IEA) February 23, 2022
It shows that methane emissions from oil, gas & coal are on the rise again, underscoring the need for greater transparency, stronger policies & immediate action.
Read more 👇 https://t.co/z97PToki12
The report on methane says the gas leaks could be fixed using already available technology and at current gas prices there would be no net cost to operators.
The report's ead author, Christophe McGlade, said Norway is an example of best practice in this area and "if all operators could match methane emissions from oil and gas operations could be cut by 90%".
The IEA points to the Global Methane Pledge signed by 110 countries at the COP26 in Glasgow.
It commits signatories to cut methane emissions from all human activities, including energy and agriculture, by 30% by 2030.
The EU and the United States have signed up but the IEA says other large emitters also need to sign up.
Of the top five methane emitting countries – China, Russia, the United States, Iran and India – only the US has joined.
