According to the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) Global Methane Tracker 2025, the energy sector released about 145 million tonnes (Mt) of methane in 2024, highlighting a recurring environmental problem even with mitigating strategies. High methane emissions from the energy sector in 2024 have contributed to about 30% of the global temperature increase. They are rising more quickly than other greenhouse gases and are now 2.5 times greater than before the Industrial Revolution. More than 35% of methane emissions from human activity come from the energy sector, which includes coal, oil, natural gas, and bioenergy. More than 80 Mt comes from oil and gas facilities alone. The IEA’s results underscore the pressing need for practical measures to reduce methane emissions as the globe struggles with climate change, particularly considering that existing technologies can cut up to 70% of methane emissions in the fossil fuel industry.

Breakdown of Methane Emissions Across Energy Subsectors

High methane emissions from the energy sector in 2024 are broken down in detail in the IEA’s report. With over 45 Mt of methane released into the atmosphere, oil operations were the most significant source, followed by natural gas operations with approximately 35 Mt. Another 2 Mt spilled from end-use equipment, and abandoned oil and gas wells added another 3 Mt. Over 40 Mt came from the coal industry, which also included over 4 Mt from closed mines and roughly 1 Mt from end-use equipment. Often regarded as a sustainable substitute, bioenergy was the cause of 18 Mt of emissions, mainly from the incomplete burning of conventional biomass used for heating and cooking in underdeveloped nations, such as wood, charcoal, agricultural waste, and animal dung. Another 2 Mt came from producing contemporary bioenergy, such as biogas and biofuels. The study also emphasized the importance of abandoned facilities, predicting that, taken as a single source, the 8 million abandoned onshore oil and gas wells and the many abandoned coal mines would rank as the fourth-largest emitters of fossil fuel methane worldwide.

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Global Leaders in Methane Emissions and Reporting Gaps

China is the world’s largest emitter of methane from fossil fuel operations, with the US, Russia, Iran, Turkmenistan, India, Venezuela, and Indonesia following closely after. The IEA estimates that global energy-related methane emissions are roughly 80% greater than what nations report to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), indicating a substantial discrepancy between reported and real emissions. Despite being the smallest in Europe, this disparity is still a significant problem worldwide because many countries understate their methane emissions. Effective climate action is hampered by inaccurate reporting, especially in high-emitting nations that have not ratified the Global Methane Pledge (GMP) but together account for nearly 45% of global energy-related methane emissions, such as Algeria, China, India, Iran, Russia, Syria, Thailand, and Venezuela. Only roughly 30 Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) in 2024 mentioned specific steps for decreasing energy-related methane emissions, with only nine establishing quantifiable objectives. The GMP, which was introduced in 2021, intends to reduce global methane emissions by at least 30% from 2020 levels by 2030.

Opportunities for Mitigation and Barriers to Action

According to the IEA, there are significant changes to reduce methane emissions with present technologies, especially in the fossil fuel industry, where emissions can be cut by about 70%—75 % for oil and gas. Redirecting methane to energy usage or oxidation technology, plugging wells that have been abandoned, sealing coal mines, and upgrading leaking equipment are some of the measures. Emissions in the coal industry might be cut in half by using methane in mines or implementing flaring and oxidation technology. While careful management of the supply chains for biogas and biomethane could guarantee their advantages over natural gas, ubiquitous access to clean cooking and contemporary heating could address emissions from incomplete combustion in the context of bioenergy. According to the IEA, implementing these solutions in the fossil fuel industry might stop global temperatures from rising by 0.1°C by 2050. Action is still scarce, though. Only half of the pledges made under the GMP and the Oil and Gas Decarbonisation Charter (introduced in 2023) have comprehensive policies, and few nations or businesses have verifiable implementation plans or have shown reductions since 2021. These pledges aim to reduce fossil-fuel methane emissions by 40% by 2030.

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Financial and Policy Challenges for Methane Abatement

Significant investment is needed to address methane emissions; according to the IEA, $175 billion will be required to cut methane emissions in the oil and gas industry by 75%, and $85 billion will be needed in the coal sector. About $60 billion is required to close the funding gap in low- and middle-income nations, of which $40 billion is for ongoing operations and $20 billion is for institutions that have been abandoned. Given that the average yearly expenditure on these measures would be less than 2% of the industry’s net profits, the IEA advises that fossil fuel corporations bear the primary responsibility for abatement. Countries can incorporate more aggressive methane reduction goals in the upcoming NDCs 2035, which are anticipated to be released in 2025. Such actions have already been included in new NDCs from the United Kingdom, Canada, Brazil, and the United Arab Emirates, establishing a standard for others. To guarantee that the energy sector effectively contributes to global climate goals, it is imperative to close the gap between reported and actual emissions, adhere to the GMP, and create comprehensive, verifiable strategies.

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