An immediate and significant change in the pace and scale of methane action is needed to achieve reductions consistent with international climate objectives. While industry efforts can and should play an important role, government policy and regulation will be critical to removing or mitigating obstacles that prevent companies from getting started and going further. Methane abatement faces a number of challenges, including information gaps, missing infrastructure and economic barriers.

Governments can address these barriers with policy and regulatory tools. If information poses a barrier, policies can include measures on monitoring, reporting and verification of emissions, or initiatives to encourage knowledge-sharing and best practices. With respect to infrastructure, governments might introduce requirements in the planning stages of projects or directly invest in building new infrastructure. Governments may also be able to price environmental externalities, create financial incentives for the capture and use of methane or for expenditures in abatement technologies, and remove barriers to investment.

Around 140 bcm of natural gas is flared globally each year. This is a major source of CO₂ emissions, methane and black soot, and is damaging to health. Regulations need to address flaring and methane emissions in tandem, to avoid that a requirement to reduce flaring creates an incentive to vent gas directly to the atmosphere instead. Colombia’s regulation, for example, sets out requirements for methane mitigation and limits for gas flaring as well as methodologies to quantify flaring, venting and fugitive methane emissions.

There should be minimal methane emissions if a flare is designed, maintained and operated correctly, but higher emissions can occur as a result of factors such as weather and changes in production rates. Occasionally a flare may be totally extinguished, resulting in direct venting of methane to the atmosphere of gas that should be combusted. Recent studies indicate that only around 90-92% of natural gas and associated liquids directed into flares at the main oil and gas producing regions of the United States were properly combusted.

Based on a detailed bottom-up assessment of production types, facility and flare design practices, operators, changes in produced volumes over field lifetime, local crosswind variability, and the strength of regulation, oversight and enforcement of flaring sites around the world, we estimate that flares have a global average combustion efficiency of around 92%. As result, we estimate that flares cause around 270 Mt CO₂ emissions from combustion as well as 8 Mt of methane emissions. Flaring therefore results in more than 500 Mt CO₂‑eq annual GHG emissions.

There are many positive examples of cutting flaring and methane emissions. Angola reduced flaring volumes by around 60% between 2016 and 2021 following its endorsement of the World Bank’s Zero Routine Flaring by 2030 initiative. Norway banned non-emergency flaring in 1971 and has successfully managed to keep very low levels of both flaring and methane emissions.

Preventing all non-emergency flaring and venting would avoid close to 20% of oil and gas methane emissions and is the single most impactful measure countries can take. Limiting flaring and venting to emergencies would also lower local air pollution and cut black carbon emissions, which is another contributor to climate change. Alternatives to flaring and venting include reinjection, on-site use and new market opportunities.

Some of the largest flaring reduction opportunities are in North Africa: around 10 bcm of natural gas was flared at upstream assets in Algeria and Egypt. Most flares operate on a continuous basis and more than three quarters are at sites within 20 km of existing gas pipelines that have ready access to an existing export pipeline or LNG facility according to analysis from Capterio.

Flaring and methane emissions are a major waste of natural resources, all the more so given tight natural gas markets in 2022. With the right policies and on-the-ground implementation of flaring and methane emissions abatement measures, we estimate that around 200 bcm of additional gas could be brought to markets, a volume greater than EU natural gas imports from Russia prior to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Countries that have joined the GMP currently account for over half of total methane emissions from human activity and about 45% of methane from fossil fuel operations. The Pledge is non-binding and individual countries are not assigned targets and it will be critical for participants to engage with countries that have not joined the GMP.

There are substantial opportunities for engagement with these countries. For example, in the 2021 US-China Joint Glasgow Declaration, China committed to develop a “comprehensive and ambitious National Action Plan on methane, aiming to achieve a significant effect on methane emissions control and reductions in the 2020s.” Since then, China has been working on a national action plan to address methane emissions, which is expected in 2023.

Fossil fuels importers can encourage reductions in methane emissions from their trading partners, including through diplomatic pressure, incentives, technical and institutional support, and trade measures. Examples include financing instruments, emissions certificates, price premiums for lower intensity gas, minimum intensity standards and border adjustment mechanisms. Efforts are more likely to be effective if paired with technical and institutional support to enhance regulatory capacity and avoid distortions in the market.

The proposed EU framework to decarbonise gas markets, promote hydrogen and reduce methane emissions includes measures that could address methane emissions from gas imports. More recently, the EU external energy engagement strategy aims to ensure that new gas supplies are coupled with actions to reduce methane leaks and address venting and flaring. It also aims to provide technical assistance to partners to deploy methane abatement technologies through “You collect/we buy” schemes.