The fossil fuel sector accounts for around 35% of methane emissions from human activity, yet there is still no sign that methane emissions from fossil fuel operations are falling, despite well-known and proven mitigation pathways. Oil, gas and coal production output reached record highs in 2025, and the International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that methane emissions from these activities total 124 million tonnes (Mt) a year: oil is the largest source at 45 Mt, followed by coal at 43 Mt, and natural gas at 36 Mt. A further 20 Mt comes from bioenergy production and consumption, largely from the incomplete combustion of traditional biomass used for cooking and heating in developing economies.

Although IEA-estimated fossil fuel emissions remain at very high levels, satellite and inventory data from 2025 point to progress in some countries. This includes fewer super-emitting events detected from oil and gas operations in Algeria, and Argentina, as well as studies suggesting that the growth in coal mine emissions in the People’s Republic of China (hereafter “China”) has been dampened in recent years as a result of tighter regulations and structural changes in production. Globally, improvements in upstream emissions intensity for oil and natural gas have offset rising output.

The ongoing crisis in the Middle East is reshaping the global energy system and disrupting around 20% of global liquefied natural gas (LNG) trade flows (around 110 bcm of gas passed through the Strait of Hormuz in 2025). As countries seek alternative sources of gas to replace lost volumes, it is worth noting that large quantities of produced gas are not being put to productive use, owing to methane leaks, and flaring and venting from oil and gas operations. While not all of this waste can be recovered, reducing flaring and methane emissions has the potential to bring significant additional volumes to market.

We estimate that nearly 100 billion cubic metres (bcm) of natural gas could be made available annually through a global effort to cut methane from oil and gas operations, with a further 100 bcm unlocked through the elimination of non-emergency flaring worldwide.

It would take time to deploy the equipment and infrastructure needed to achieve cuts of this magnitude. But in the immediate future, if countries with spare export capacity and gas importers were to implement abatement measures across their upstream and downstream operations, we estimate that nearly 15 bcm could be made available in a sufficiently short period of time to provide some relief to gas markets.

The availability, quality and reporting of methane emissions data have increased significantly in recent years but remains very uneven between countries. While uncertainty remains high, the IEA estimates that more than 85 Mt of emissions tied to fossil fuels operations in 2025 came from the 10 biggest emitters of methane. China is the largest emitter, driven by coal operations, followed by the United States and the Russian Federation (hereafter “Russia”).

The IEA estimates that the global average upstream methane intensity of oil and gas production has fallen by around 10% since 2019, but performance varies widely across countries. The best performers score more than 100 times better than the worst. Norway records the lowest upstream intensity, while producers in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), also perform relatively well. By contrast, Turkmenistan and Venezuela have by far the highest methane intensities.

Coal mine methane intensities are higher on average than those of oil and gas, but they are also highly variable. The most intensive coal-sector emissions are found in the Caspian Sea region, while India, Indonesia and Australia all record intensities that are well below the global average.

High emissions intensities are not inevitable: they can be reduced cost-effectively through a combination of robust operational standards, policy action and technology deployment. Best practice in all three areas is already well established.

In 2021, more than 100 countries joined the European Union and the United States to launch the Global Methane Pledge (GMP), a collective commitment to reduce global methane emissions by 30% by 2030. Today, 159 countries plus the European Union participate, covering nearly three-quarters of global oil and gas production and around 65% of sectoral methane emissions. Several  – including Colombia, the European Union and Nigeria – have introduced comprehensive methane regulations to implement their pledges. China is not part of the GMP, but in 2023 it adopted a National Methane Action Plan covering the energy, agriculture and waste sectors.

The past five years have also seen considerable progress in industry engagement on methane. The launch of the Oil and Gas Decarbonisation Charter (OGDC) in 2023 builds on earlier efforts such as the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative (OGCI) and the steady expansion of the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP)’s Oil and Gas Methane Partnership 2.0 (OGMP 2.0). In 2021, less than 20% of global oil and gas production was covered by company commitments to near-zero emissions; today, more than half is. Most of the industry appears to be following the lead of governments: less than 10% of global production is covered solely by voluntary industry pledges.

To help achieve existing commitments to cut emissions, countries can learn from jurisdictions with proven policies and regulations, companies can share best practices, and all can benefit from better, more transparent data.

In oil and gas, abatement solutions include upgrading equipment that emits by design – for example, replacing wet compressor seals with dry ones – and deploying vapour-recovery units to capture low-pressure methane flows. For coal, emissions can be reduced by capturing and using methane from mines, or by destroying it through flaring or oxidation technologies.

Around 70% of methane emissions from fossil fuels – nearly 85 Mt – can be abated with existing technology, including three-quarters of emissions from oil and gas and about half of coal emissions. More than 35 Mt could be avoided at no net cost, based on average energy prices in 2025. This is because the required capital and operating costs of abatement are lower than the market value of the gas captured and sold or used. The economics look even more attractive in 2026, as fuel prices come under upward pressure from the conflict in the Middle East.

Stopping upstream emissions from oil and gas operations is among the most effective ways to reduce methane. More than 50 Mt can be abated with existing technology. Implementing these measures would lower the global average upstream methane emissions intensity of oil and natural gas production to less than 0.2% from around 1% in 2025.1

The most cost-effective options available today for reducing emissions include leak detection and repair (LDAR); replacing pumps and other methane-emitting equipment with electric devices; using vapour-recovery units (VRUs) to capture vented gas; and using associated gas, for example to power microturbines for power generation. Nearly 30 Mt of upstream oil and gas emissions could be abated at no net cost under 2025 energy prices.

Applying tried-and-tested policies to cut methane from upstream oil and gas operations is one of the most effective steps policymakers can take. The European Union and Canada have recently introduced robust upstream regulations, while Kazakhstan, Brazil and Ghana are all in the process of doing so.

Various tried-and-tested policies for cutting methane have been successfully applied in different jurisdictions and contexts. These include limiting flaring and venting, requiring LDAR programmes, and introducing technology standards. These policies do not require a fully established baseline or inventory.

If every country were to implement these tried-and-tested policies, we estimate that global methane emissions from oil and gas operations would shrink by more than half. If additional policies that rely on more precise emissions data – such as emissions pricing, financing instruments and performance standards – were also adopted globally, methane emissions from oil and gas could be cut by more than 75%.

Some countries have already implemented such policies successfully, offering a model for others seeking to reduce their methane emissions. Norway, for example, banned non-emergency flaring in 1971 and introduced a tax on natural gas venting and flaring in 2015. As a result, it has successfully maintained very low levels of flaring and methane emissions and today boasts the lowest emissions intensity of any country.

The COP30 Statement on Drastically Reducing Methane Emissions in the Global Fossil Fuel Sector urges producing and importing countries to deepen cooperation on methane emissions and to work toward developing a global market for fuels with near-zero methane intensity. Some importing countries and regions have started to address the emissions associated with their energy consumption. Starting in 2030, the European Union Methane Regulation will require all imported oil, gas and coal to meet a defined methane-intensity threshold. Japan, Korea and the United Kingdom have also taken steps to better understand and address methane emissions associated with imported fossil fuels.

More than 40% of global oil and 25% of natural gas and coal is traded internationally. For many importers, most of the emissions associated with their fossil fuel consumption originate abroad. In the European Union, the United Kingdom, Japan, Korea, and China, the methane tied to imported oil and gas (15 Mt in 2024) dwarfs that from domestic production (5 Mt in 2024).

The average upstream methane emissions intensity of oil and gas imports varies widely by country: based on IEA estimates, it is around 1.3% for China, 1% for the European Union and United Kingdom, and 0.6% for Japan and Korea. If these fell to 0.2% – the level that could be achieved globally if all technically available measures were deployed – emissions would decline by more than 12 Mt.

Dozens of satellites in orbit can provide insights on methane emissions. These range from global flux mappers like the Tropospheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) and the Global Observing Satellite for Greenhouse Gases and Water (GOSAT-GW), which offer frequent, wide-area coverage but can detect only the largest plumes, to high-resolution “point source” satellites like Tanager-1 and GHGSat, which can identify smaller emissions, but over more limited target areas.

One example of a methane-focussed satellite is the Environmental Defense Fund’s MethaneSAT. Although the satellite stopped operating about a year after launch, analysis of the data it collected continues to yield new insights. Its observations covered major onshore oil and gas producing basins in 16 countries and they provide some of the most robust estimates of basin-level emissions intensities to date.

In countries where MethaneSAT covered more than 25% of oil and gas production (10 of the 16 countries with data), the production-weighted basin-level intensity estimates derived from its data align closely with the IEA’s country-level upstream intensity estimates.

Since 2022, the Methane Alert and Response System (MARS), managed by UNEP's International Methane Emissions Observatory (IMEO), has been notifying governments and operators of large methane-emissions events, sending alerts directly to designated “focal points” – contacts responsible for coordinating a response. While there is evidence – both observed and submitted by focal points themselves – that some mitigation is taking place, there remains considerable scope for faster action in response to alerts.

The IEA, in collaboration with the IMEO, has developed a five-step sequential framework to help countries improve their responses to MARS notifications. Had all countries followed the recommended timelines for mitigating the emissions events detected by MARS in 2025, global oil and gas emissions would have been reduced by around 6 Mt – roughly equivalent to total upstream emissions from the Caspian region.