Introduction
Global-warming methane released by the fossil fuel industry will rise to record high levels in 2023, despite existing technology to curb this pollution almost for free,” the International Energy Agency announced on the 13th. The main source is agriculture, but the energy industry is the second largest after methane leaks from pipelines and other energy infrastructure, as well as intentional emissions from maintenance.
Table of Contents
Despite technologies that can almost completely reduce this pollution with free, planet-warming methane issued by the fossil fuel industry in 2023 reached a near-historic high, according to the International Energy Agency.
While human-caused methane emissions from agriculture, landfills, and oil and natural gas extraction are short-lived in the atmosphere, their effects as a greenhouse gas are much greater than that of carbon dioxide. About a third of the global temperature increase during the Industrial Revolution is due to them.
According to the IEA study, more than 120 million tons of methane were released into the atmosphere during the production and consumption of fossil fuels in 2022, which is a small increase compared to 2022.
According to the IEA’s analysis of leaking fossil fuels, large methane plumes increased from infrastructure in 2023 compared to 2022 by 50%. A well blowout in Kazakhstan that lasted more than 200 days was one extreme radiation detected by satellites.
Since 2019, when the IEA launched a global methane monitoring program and set a record high, methane emissions remained at approximately 130 million tons.
This is true even though more than 150 countries have committed after 2021 to reduce global methane emissions by at least 30% compared to 2020 levels by the end of the decade.
Dozens of oil companies have also made voluntary commitments to reduce emissions. Known practices and existing technologies can significantly reduce methane emissions from fossil fuels. The IEA is committed to helping the energy sector achieve its goals by implementing these measures and will continue to monitor progress, which is a key part of our wider efforts to ensure that countries meet the energy commitments made at COP28.
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