The United Nations is putting renewed pressure on the oil and gas industry to reduce planet-warming methane emissions. While methane is generated in several industries, including farming, waste, and energy production, a new report suggests the oil, gas, and coal operations offer the quickest and largest opportunity for meaningful change.
What's happening?
According to Environment+Energy Leader, the report, unveiled by U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, looks at methane emissions from the perspective of the agriculture, waste, and energy industries.
By sector, the report found that agriculture produces about 42% of human-caused methane emissions globally, fossil fuels make up roughly 38%, and waste accounts for 20%. The new report argues that, although the fossil fuel industry isn't the leading cause of methane emissions, it has the biggest potential to curb its emissions through already available technology.
Available measures include using infrared cameras and remote sensors to find leaks, replacing equipment that emits large amounts of methane, capturing gas that would otherwise be vented or flared, and improving methane controls at coal mines. In 2024, around 5.3 trillion cubic feet of natural gas were flared worldwide — about the same as the African continent's annual gas consumption, Environment+Energy Leader noted.
Why does it matter?
Methane is a highly potent heat-trapping gas, and cutting methane pollution can slow warming more quickly than many other climate strategies. Fossil fuel leaks are also largely avoidable.
The fossil fuel industry also harms people and communities in ways that extend far beyond emissions totals. Extraction, production, and burning contribute to extreme weather disasters that damage homes, jobs, and local economies. They also worsen air and water pollution linked to asthma, heart disease, cancer, and premature death, while many households continue to face high energy bills even as corporate profits remain elevated.
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At the same time, industry lobbying can slow the transition to cleaner, cheaper energy solutions that would better protect families and lower costs.
Accountability is changing as methane tracking improves. Instead of relying mainly on company self-reporting, new satellite systems are identifying major methane releases within days; by February 2026, the U.N.'s Methane Alert and Response System had issued more than 5,000 alerts in 33 countries, but Environment+Energy Leader reported that only about 12% received a documented response in 2025.
What's being done?
To improve that record, the U.N. is pressing countries and operators to move far more aggressively. As Environment+Energy Leader reported, Guterres wants the documented response rate to reach at least 80% by 2030, which would require finding and repairing leaks.
The report also pushes for stricter methane measurement and disclosure, including asset-level monitoring, third-party verification, and a globally recognized methane intensity benchmark. Documentation like that could increasingly affect financing, procurement, and access to global markets.
Norway is used as an example of what that can look like. As Environment+Energy Leader noted, the country banned routine flaring in 1971, began taxing methane and carbon emissions from petroleum production in 1991, and increased that tax in 2017.
Norway is one of the lowest-methane-intensity oil and gas producers, and bringing the rest of the world to that level could reportedly cut sector methane by more than 90%.
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