World Energy methane emissions near record high in 2024: IEA

Record production with fossil fuels stopped the planetary heating methane emissions near historical heights last year, the international energy agency said on Wednesday, and warned of an increase in the massive leaks of oil and gas systems.

Slashing emissions of methane – second in carbon dioxide for its contribution to global warming – is for the achievement of international goals of climate change and one of the fastest ways to curb the temperature rise.

However, the IEA warned that the countries significantly underestimate their methane pollution of the energy sector, and estimates that emissions are about 80 percent higher than the total total of the United Nations reported by the governments.

The energy sector is responsible for around a third of the methane issued by human activities.

It runs from gas pipes and other energy infrastructures and is also deliberately released during the maintenance of the equipment.

Adaptation This is one of the simplest ways to reduce emissions, since it can often be clogged with little or no costs.

“However, the latest data point out that the implementation on methane has continued to decrease the ambitions,” said Fatih Birol, Executive Director IEA.

– 'Super emitter' –

The IEA global methane tracker reports that over 120 million tons from the fossil train sector were published in 2024, near the record high in 2019.

China has the largest energy methane emissions worldwide, mainly from his coal sector.

Second, the United States follows, driven by their oil and gas sector, with Russia third.

The IEA said its numbers are based on measured data, as far as possible, compared to the emissions registered by governments, which can be outdated or valued with information from the energy sector.

The global methane emissions are becoming increasingly easier to monitor from space. More than 25 satellites pursue gas flags from fossil fuel systems and other sources.

The IEA said that the Sentinel 5 satellite in Europe, which only sees the greatest leaks, showed that “super-emitting methane events” rose to a record high in oil and gas systems in 2024.

These huge leaks were observed worldwide, especially in the USA, Turkmenistan and Russia.

Abandoned oil and gas fountains and coal men are also important sources of methane that are entered into the atmosphere, the IEA said in a new analysis for this year's report.

When putting together, you would be the “fourth largest emitter of fossil fuel methane”, which is about eight million tons last year.

– 'enormous effect' – –

About 40 percent of methane emissions come from natural sources, mainly wetlands.

The rest comes from human activities, especially agriculture and the energy sector.

Since methane is effective but is relatively short -lived, it is an essential goal for countries that want to cut emissions quickly.

More than 150 countries have promised a reduction of 30 percent by 2030.

Oil and gas companies have now undertaken to lower methane emissions by 2050.

The IEA estimated that the cutting of methane released by the fossil fuel sector would slow down the global warming significantly and would prevent global temperatures from increasing by about 0.1 degrees by 2050.

“This would have an enormous influence -comparable to the elimination of all CO2 emissions of the world in one fell swoop,” the report said.

Around 70 percent of annual methane emissions from the energy sector could be avoided with existing technologies.

But only five percent of the global oil and gas gas emission standards “almost zero”, said the IEA.

Energy Think Tank Ember said that the industry of fossil fuels had to reduce methane emissions by 75 percent by 2030 if the world is to achieve the goal of reducing overall emissions to zero by the middle of this century.

In particular, methane from coal was “still ignored,” said Ember analyst Sabina Assan.

“Today, cost -effective technologies are available, so this is a low -hanging fruit to tackle methane. We can no longer avoid coalemins from the hook.”

KLM-NAL/NP/RL