Methane emissions, a key driver of climate change, remain stubbornly high around the world according to an annual update from the International Energy Agency (IEA).
That’s despite the fact that the technology to cut those emissions exists now — especially for emissions from the oil and gas sector.
“Because methane is such a potent greenhouse gas, reductions are critical for action on climate,” said Tomás Bredariol, energy and environmental policy analyst at the IEA who worked on the Global Methane Tracker report.
Methane is about 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide at trapping heat, but only lasts for around a decade in the atmosphere. Its concentration in the atmosphere has more than doubled in the past two centuries, mostly due to human activities.
According to new numbers from the Global Methane Tracker released Wednesday, methane emissions from fossil fuel production have remained at about 120 million tonnes annually since 2019, when they reached a high, and don’t seem to be coming down despite global methane pledges.
The benefits of methane reductions would be relatively swift and are sorely needed for a quickly warming planet, experts from the intergovernmental agency said.
Small but significant reductions
“If we look at current trends and fossil fuel supply, strong action on methane could deliver a reduction of 0.1 C in the rise in global temperatures by 2050,” said the IEA’s Bredariol.
That might seem small, but it is a significant reduction — equivalent to eliminating all carbon emissions from heavy industry (steel, iron, chemical manufacturing, etc.) worldwide.
Despite this, the report says countries are still far behind implementing policies to reduce methane.
Only about five per cent of global oil and gas production meets net-zero methane emissions standards, according to the agency.
Canada, however, was singled out as “a leading jurisdiction” in tackling methane, according to Janetta McKenzie, director of the oil and gas program at the Pembina Institute.
“If Canada is leading on reducing oil and gas methane … there is a net benefit to our economy as well,” she said. “We’re early innovators in technology and expertise that puts us in a position to sell solutions to the world.”
Canada has extensive methane regulations for the oil and gas sector, and ambitious targets — a 75 per cent decrease below 2012 levels by 2030. This is more ambitious than the Global Methane Pledge, which was launched in 2021 and includes Canada along with major emitters like the U.S. and Europe, where countries have promised to cut emissions 30 per cent below 2020 levels by 2030.
McKenzie said Canada currently has draft methane regulations to drive further reductions until 2030, and Ottawa should act to finalize those rules for the country to continue making progress.
Fixing leaks
Agriculture is the biggest source of anthropogenic — or human-caused — methane emissions, followed by fossil fuels. But the latter is considered to be the easiest to cut down.
“There’s no need for technological breakthroughs to deliver this,” Bredariol said. “Around 70 per cent of methane emissions from the energy sector can be reduced with technologies that have been deployed in multiple places around the world very successfully.”
Methane emissions happen mainly through leaks at oil and gas production facilities, pipelines and terminals, and other energy infrastructure. Technology to reduce those emissions involves plugging leaks in pipes, valves, tanks and other equipment at these facilities.
But it can be a challenge to find those leaks, since methane is a colourless, odourless gas. The IEA says that actual methane emissions worldwide are about 80 per cent higher than what’s reported by countries in their annual greenhouse gas emissions reports.
A groundbreaking satellite named MethaneSAT has been launched into space with the goal of tracking global methane emissions. Scientists hope the technology will help hold oil and gas companies accountable in the fight against climate change.
Research over the past decade has helped zoom in to where the leaks are happening, some of which is now being used by the IEA for the methane tracking.
The agency relied on data from satellites, including GHGSat, which is operated out of Montreal, to come up with better estimates of methane emissions around the world. Satellites are increasingly able to pinpoint leaks quickly, the report said, and help companies and countries crack down on emissions.
Methane and the global agenda
The IEA’s report comes as the U.S., the world’s second largest methane emitter, is reconsidering methane regulations under President Donald Trump’s administration. Other major emitters, such as China, India and Russia, have not signed on to the Global Methane Pledge, leaving a cloudy future for methane reductions worldwide.
In the absence of clear action around methane from some countries, the IEA report is making another case for plugging methane leaks: saving more fuel for energy production.
Methane is the main element of natural gas, and the report suggests that methane abatement efforts could make another 100 billion cubic metres of gas available worldwide every year — about the amount of Canada’s total natural gas exports per year.
“Methane abatement makes a clear contribution to the energy security agenda,” the report said.
McKenzie says there is a good business case for Canada to keep moving forward on methane. The European Union plans to impose methane emissions standards on its gas imports, and Japan and South Korea are considered related measures for their own gas imports. McKenzie said Canada’s action on methane will help it meet those standards, as the country tries to expand its gas exports beyond the U.S. and to Europe and Asia.
