Emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, remain high worldwide despite available solutions

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.

"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.