Coal

Report: Global Methane Emissions Rose in 2023

MAR 13 2024·Updated MAR 14 2024

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The Facts

The International Energy Agency (IEA) reported Wednesday that methane emissions levels reached near-record highs in 2023, climbing to more than 120M metric tons. Methane is reportedly responsible for roughly 30% of global warming.
Al Jazeera
Overall methane levels are close to the last record high reported in 2019, another 10M metric tons of which have been attributed to bioenergy, including biomass from cooking.
E&E News by POLITICO
Other sources of methane have come from oil and natural gas production, agriculture, and landfills. This included a 50% increase in methane from 2022-23 due to leaky fossil fuel infrastructure.
Reuters
Human activity, rather than natural sources, is responsible for about 60% of methane emissions, two-thirds of which come from 10 countries. The largest emitters are China's coal industry, the US's natural gas sector, and Russia.
Al Jazeera
This follows a pledge by 50 oil and gas companies — including Exxon Mobil and the Saudi Arabian company Aramco — this year to lower their own emissions in an effort to reach zero by 2030.
Rigzone
The IEA says the energy industry must cut methane emissions by 75% by 2030, followed by zero emissions by 2050. To do so, it recommends updating equipment and investing in carbon capture technology, which it says would cost $170B or 5% of the industry's 2023 revenue.
Rigzone

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The Spin

Pro-establishment narrative

While methane accounts for less global warming than CO2 emissions, its impact still plays a dangerous role in bringing the world toward the point of no return. The positive sign is that methane-producing industries such as coal, agriculture, and waste management can be overhauled to use less and save more. The solution is for companies to not only reduce their operations' own methane levels but also label the methane levels per unit so consumers can make environmentally-informed decisions when buying products.

McKinsey & Company

Establishment-critical narrative

In their pursuit of lowering emissions like methane, the climate alarmist activists want to corporatize all the industries they say are leading to global warming. For instance, elites at the World Economic Forum conference this year referred to the coffee industry as "fragmented," which actually means they think the small, often middle-class or poor farmers around the world — as well as their land — should be taken over by big businesses. They want regular people — not the rich and powerful who fly private jetliners — to feel guilty for growing and consuming food.

New York Post