The world is not moving quickly enough to achieve global goals to reduce methane emissions by the end of the decade, a United Nations report found.
Four years ago, over 100 countries signed a pledge to cut global methane emissions by 30 percent by 2030. The greenhouse gas is released by the burning of fossil fuels, leaky landfills and industrial agriculture. It warms the planet up to 80 times more than carbon dioxide over two decades and is responsible for roughly a third of all planetary warming.
The world has long relied on estimates of methane emissions, but real-world measurements are the key to solving the problem, said Giulia Ferrini, who leads the U.N. Environment Program’s International Methane Emissions Observatory, an initiative that manages several programs trying to track and meet international goals.
Each year, oil, gas and coal industries pump out an estimated 120 million metric tons of methane or roughly a third of the world’s total, according to the International Energy Agency.
One of the U.N. programs uses satellite imagery to find methane leaks in dozens of countries. So far, it has detected over 14,000 plumes and sent thousands of pollution notifications to the parties responsible for leaks.
Meghan Demeter, the manager of the program, said it had seen large improvements over last year. But there’s still a long way to go: They have confirmed 25 cases in the course of the program’s existence where an alert prompted operators to plug a leak. In 2025, nearly 88 percent of the agency’s alerts went unaddressed.
Satellites are a powerful tool for catching large methane leaks, but the majority come from sources that are too small to be detected, Ms. Demeter said.
President Trump has pulled the United States back from international climate commitments, and his administration has proposed ending pollution reporting requirements. Earlier this year, Congress scrapped plans to start taxing methane emissions.
The U.N. uses data from over a dozen satellites run by several countries, including the U.S., to track methane emissions from space.
The Trump administration has also suggested shutting down greenhouse gas-monitoring satellites and proposed cuts of over a billion dollars from Earth observation programs, including at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and NASA.
Recently, an effort by an environmental nonprofit to track methane emissions failed when its craft MethaneSAT was lost. Other nonprofit groups, such as Carbon Mapper, are using satellites to detect methane plumes and notify operators.
The U.N. also runs a partnership with oil and gas companies that agree to measure their emissions and report them to the agency. Currently, 154 companies have signed up, representing about 42 percent of all oil and gas production in the world.
In 2025, these companies reported some 2.5 million tons of methane. It’s more than last year, but still tens of millions shy of global emissions estimates.
Less than a fifth of participating companies are currently reporting their emissions with what the U.N. considers “gold standard” measurements. Another 15 percent are on track to doing so within a few years, according to the report, which was released Wednesday.
Many oil and gas companies want to join these programs because it’s “economically in their best interest,” said Deborah Gordon, who runs the oil and gas solutions initiative at RMI, a research nonprofit.
In recent decades, the world has increasingly relied on natural gas, which is largely made up of methane, as an energy source. Signing up to prevent leaky operations isn’t a big leap for companies already trying to maximize profits from gas, Ms. Gordon said. “Gas can’t be both a commodity and wasted,” she said.
But fixing leaks can be labor-intensive, and there are a number of reasons companies might balk at reporting their emissions. Some companies may be prioritizing oil operations, or may not have a way to sell their gas. Not all have the data, technology or financial motivation necessary to find and fix their leaks.
Ms. Ferrini said companies facing pressure from governments or investors are more motivated to act. “In the end, it comes down to political will,” she said.
Some of the world’s largest oil and gas companies don’t report their emissions to the agency. These include state-owned companies such as Pemex in Mexico, Sinopec in China and Saudi Aramco in Saudi Arabia.
The United States has one of the largest methane footprints in the world. Despite its changing political situation, Ms. Ferrini said U.S.-based companies like Exxon Mobil and Chevron haven’t withdrawn from the program.
The U.N. programs started by focusing on only oil and gas emissions because low-cost and proven solutions are readily available, Ms. Ferrini said. They will soon begin monitoring other sources, like coal, landfills and wastewater.
Each industry requires a unique approach. Agriculture, for instance, accounts for 40 percent of human-caused methane. “Arguably, it’s easier to engage hundreds of oil and gas companies than it is to engage thousands of smallholder farmers,” Ms. Ferrini said.
Some 40 percent of the world’s methane in the atmosphere comes from natural sources, like decomposing plant material in wetlands. As the planet warms and thaws Arctic soils, emissions in this category are on the rise.
Sachi Kitajima Mulkey covers climate and the environment for The Times.
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