An increase in methane emissions from fossil fuels is cause for alarm – but with a glimmer of hope

New research shows the fossil fuel industry’s methane emissions have gone back up. This is bad news - but there is a sign things could improve, Zoe Tidman writes

Methane emissions from energy sector rose by nearly five per cent last year, International Energy Agency says (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

“Harmful and unnecessary”. That is how an International Energy Agency economist described the increase in methane emissions from oil, gas and coal.

The energy sector emitted nearly five per cent more of this potent greenhouse gas in 2021 compared to 2020, when there was a lull due to the Covid pandemic.

More methane in the atmosphere is certainly not good news. It may be short-lived but it is potent - with an estimated warming power more than 80 times that of carbon dioxide over a 20-year period.