IEA warns: Potent methane emissions from companies as economies rebound

IEA warns: Potent methane emissions from companies as economies rebound

Potent methane emissions from companies in the oil and gas sector could rebound strongly as global economic activity starts to recover from the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic, International Energy Agency (IEA) warned on Monday.Greenhouse gas leaks, which are considered a major contributor to global warming, dropped in 2020 after economies worldwide grounded to a halt. However, the decline is only considered temporary and it occurred not because companies were taking serious actions to curb emissions.“As such, there is clearly a risk that this downward trend will be reversed by an increase in production to fuel a rebound in global economic activity,” the Paris-based watchdog added.According to IEA's report, emissions from the global oil and gas industry fell by approximately 10 percent last year, as producers were forced to cut output in response to the historic shock of the COVID-19 pandemic.Companies in the energy sector, including oil, natural gas, coal and bioenergy, are some of the largest sources of methane emissions.Despite experiencing a decline, 2020 still saw oil and gas operations emitting more than 70 million tonnes of methane into the atmosphere. This, IEA said, is roughly equivalent to the total energy-related CO2 emissions from the entire European Union.No resurgence“The