Fossil fuel firms must plug methane leaks to meet climate targets, warns watchdog
Spending to clean up their operations would be equivalent to only 5% of profits made last year, IEA estimates
Fossil fuel companies must pay tens of billions to reduce the emissions of methane from their operations or it will be almost impossible to meet global climate targets, the world’s energy watchdog has warned.
The US is now the biggest source of methane emissions from oil and gas extraction, as a result of the massive expansion of its oil and gas sector, while China is the biggest emitter of methane from coal mining. Russia also continues to be a major emitter as its fossil fuel operations are poorly run.