The International Energy Agency (IEA) on Tuesday accused fossil fuel industries of doing too little to curb methane emissions and undermining global climate goals to limit warming.
Economic uncertainty, high energy prices, and worries over energy security should have led to emissions cuts in 2022, however, methane emissions remained “stubbornly high,” the IEA said.
The IEA’s Global Methane Tracker report, released on Tuesday, shows the oil and gas sector could slash emissions of potent greenhouse gas using only a fraction of its bumper income from the energy crisis
The IEA’s latest update of its Global Methane Tracker found that the global energy industry was responsible for 135 million tonnes of methane released into the atmosphere in 2022, only slightly below the record highs seen in 2019. Today, the energy sector accounts for around 40% of total methane emissions attributable to human activity, second only to agriculture.
“Methane cuts are among the cheapest options to limit near-term global warming,” said IEA’s executive director Fatih Birol, reports the Associated Press. “There is just no excuse.”
Methane, which makes up natural gas, can escape into the air from oil and gas infrastructure. Fossil fuel companies may also flare or burn off excess gas which can release methane into the atmosphere.
The report slammed methane emissions images refusal to pay up the some $100 billion needed for technologies to spearhead the emissions cuts, which is less than 3 percent of the industry’s profits in 2022.
Energy giants like Shell, BP, ExxonMobil, and others reported record profits last year as Russia’s war in Ukraine drove up oil and natural gas prices, spurring calls for the companies to do more to contain climate-changing emissions and help households and businesses that saw their utility bills explode.
“The untamed release of methane in fossil fuel production is a problem that sometimes goes under the radar in public debate,” Birol said, reports CTV News Canada. “Fossil fuel producers need to step up and policymakers need to step in — and both must do so quickly.”
New advanced technologies and satellites are providing clearer methane emissions images increasing the world’s knowledge of emission sources.
