Almost 90% of methane leaks detected by satellites around Earth that were flagged to governments and oil and gas companies are not being acknowledged, the UN said on Wednesday.
The International Methane Emissions Observatory, which integrates over 17 satellites to observe gas plumes, only got a 12% response rate from 3,500 alerts about leaks detected across the oil and gas sector this year, according to a UN report, which showed there has only been limited progress from last year’s response rate, when only 1% of alerts resulted in action to prevent them.
The news is likely to be a topic of huge debate at the COP30 climate talks in Brazil next month. That’s because methane, despite staying in the atmosphere for a shorter time than carbon dioxide, is the biggest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, as it is much more effective at trapping heat, which is why scientists consider cutting methane emissions to be the fastest way to tackle climate change in the near-term.
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More than 150 countries have signed the 2021 Global Methane Pledge, a voluntary pact that seeks to cut the world’s methane emissions by 30% this decade.
“Actions remain too slow,” said Inger Andersen, executive director of the UN Environment Programme, which oversees the observatory’s Methane Alert and Response System that remotely detects leaks of the colourless gas.
“We are talking about tightening the screws in some cases,” Anderson said, referring to methane leaks from the oil and gas sector from venting and flaring. “We can’t ignore these rather easy wins.”
The report said it has documented 25 instances where a notification led to a large emissions event being fixed.
At the start of this month, investors representing over 4.5 trillion euros ($5.3 trillion) of assets urged the EU not to weaken its methane emissions law following concerns the European Union might relax the rules to facilitate increased US LNG imports, as part of the bloc’s efforts to ease trade tensions.
Methane leaks from the oil and gas sector offer the most potential for mitigation, the observatory says.
But it also plans to expand its detection work to include emissions from other major sources, including metallurgical coal for steel production, waste, and agriculture, Giulia Ferrini, the head of the observatory, said.
Planet pushed to the brink: Guterres
The United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned on Wednesday that global warming is pushing the planet to the brink and urged countries to implement disaster warning systems to protect people against extreme weather.
“Every one of the last ten years has been the hottest in history. Ocean heat is breaking records while decimating ecosystems. And no country is safe from fires, floods, storms and heatwaves,” he told delegates at the UN World Meteorological Organization’s extraordinary conference in Geneva to mark its 75th year.
Guterres urged countries to mobilize funding to enable a global system of surveillance, known as Early Warning Systems, to protect people from extreme weather.
“They give farmers the power to protect their crops and livestock. Enable families to evacuate safely. And protect entire communities from devastation,” Guterres said.
Getting notice 24 hours before a hazardous event can reduce damage by up to 30%, he added.
Over 60% of countries have introduced multi-hazard Early Warning Systems since Guterres launched an initiative in 2022 for all countries to have these in place by 2027.
In the past five decades, weather, water and climate-related hazards have killed more than 2 million people, with 90% of those deaths occurring in developing countries, the WMO said on Monday.
Reuters with additional editing by Jim Pollard
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