Methane emissions from fossil fuels remained at record high levels in 2025, with no sign of decline globally, even as oil, gas and coal production reached record levels last year, the International Energy Agency said in its Global Methane Tracker 2026 report released on Monday.
The tracker said, based on recent data from satellites and measurement campaigns, that the fossil fuel sector represents about 35% of methane emissions resulting from human activity. However, there is still no sign of a decline in emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, from fossil fuel operations.
Total methane emissions from oil, gas and coal production reached 124 million tons per year. The IEA said oil was the largest source at 45 million tons, followed by coal at 43 million tons, and natural gas at 36 million tons, and 20 million tons came from bioenergy production and consumption, largely from incomplete combustion of traditional biomass used for cooking and heating in developing economies.
Methane has a much shorter lifetime in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide (about 12 years compared to centuries for carbon dioxide). But it is a much stronger greenhouse gas, absorbing more energy while in the atmosphere.
In recent years, many countries and companies have announced efforts to reduce methane emissions as part of efforts to limit near-term global warming and improve air quality. The International Energy Agency said commitments to cut methane gas now cover more than half of global oil and gas production. 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.
The IEA said methane emissions from the energy sector are approaching record levels in 2025, revealing a major gap in implementation. She said processing methane could help countries improve gas market security, a priority after the near-total closure of the Strait of Hormuz following the US-Iran war, which removed nearly 20% of global LNG supplies from the market.
The IEA said that if selected countries with excess gas export capacity and importing countries implemented accessible measures to reduce methane across their gas systems, nearly 15 billion cubic meters of gas could be available to markets very quickly. In the long term, efforts to reduce methane from oil and gas operations globally could bring approximately 100 billion cubic meters of gas to markets each year, while eliminating non-emergency gas flaring could release another 100 billion cubic meters. The IEA said such a saving would double the amount of supplies cut off by the effective closure of the strait.
The IEA estimates that more than 85 million tons of emissions associated with fossil fuel operations in 2025 came from the 10 largest emitters. China is the largest emitter, driven by coal operations, followed by the United States and Russia.
Countries and companies have raised their ambitions for methane, pushing the issue higher up the policy agenda in recent years, said Tim Gould, chief energy economist at the International Energy Agency. “…setting reduction targets is only a first step, and it is important to ensure they are supported by real policies, implementation plans and actions. This is not just a climate issue: there are also significant energy security benefits that can come from methane processing and gas flaring, especially at a time when the world is urgently looking for additional supplies amid the current crisis.”
The IEA noted that the most cost-effective options available to reduce emissions include leak detection and repair (LDAR), which replaces pumps and other methane-emitting equipment with electrical devices. LDAR uses Vapor Recovery Units (VRUs) to capture the blown gas.
The fossil fuel sector in South and Southeast Asia released about 13 million tons of methane in 2025. More than 60% of this comes from coal mines, and the rest from oil and gas operations. India and Indonesia were the largest emitters. Methane emissions have risen in the region, driven by rising energy demand and fossil fuel production. Fossil fuel production and associated methane emissions across the region are expected to start declining in the coming years, the IEA said.
Across the oil and gas sector, most methane emissions come from upstream activities, representing 80% of the total. Upstream activity refers to the initial stages of a supply chain or industrial value chain, focusing primarily on exploring, researching and extracting raw materials.
Methane can also be released unintentionally through leaking components such as valves or seals, or through incomplete combustion of natural gas, including at gas flaring sites.
