ANTALYA, November 12, 2026 – Nations and oil and gas operators have made significant progress in reducing methane emissions, with mitigation efforts equivalent to taking 26 million cars off the road for a year, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has announced.
The announcement was made during the UNEP International Methane Emissions Observatory (IMEO) ministerial meeting, co-hosted by Canada and the European Union on the sidelines of the COP31 climate negotiations in Antalya, Türkiye.
The meeting also highlighted growing commitments by countries to strengthen methane reduction efforts and increasing transparency within the oil and gas industry.
“With the world on course to exceed 1.5°C of warming, we must limit how high temperatures rise and how long they stay high, and then bring them down,” said Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP.
“Methane is the second largest contributor to global heating behind carbon dioxide, but it leaves the atmosphere quickly, so cutting its emissions is our emergency brake to slow warming. The work of IMEO shows that such reductions are not only possible but taking place now,” she added.
Since June, UNEP’s Methane Alert and Response System (MARS), which combines satellite technology, artificial intelligence and scientific expertise to identify major methane emissions and alert governments and operators, has confirmed the mitigation of five additional major methane sources.
The new cases, identified in Canada, Iraq, Kazakhstan and Mexico, account for 125,000 tonnes of methane emissions addressed, delivering a climate benefit equivalent to removing nearly 2.5 million cars from the road for a year.
The latest developments bring the total number of major methane sources addressed through MARS to 46 across 13 countries, representing emissions reductions equivalent to taking 26 million cars off the road annually.
Growing international action
International efforts to tackle methane emissions are also gaining momentum following the United Nations Secretary-General’s Call to Action on Methane, released in June 2026.
The initiative outlines nine priority actions across the fossil fuel, waste and agriculture sectors, supporting the Global Methane Pledge target of reducing global methane emissions by 30 per cent by 2030.
UNEP has expanded its assistance to countries, aiming to achieve an 80 per cent response rate to major methane alerts by 2030. Since June, Azerbaijan, Canada, Iraq and Libya have reached this benchmark, bringing the total number of countries meeting it to 13. Nine of these countries have achieved a 100 per cent response rate.
Oil and gas industry strengthens transparency
Progress is also being recorded in the private sector through UNEP’s Oil and Gas Methane Partnership 2.0 (OGMP 2.0), which has expanded to 164 companies representing 43 per cent of global oil and gas production.
The partnership added ten companies in 2026 alone, while one-third of global production is now on track to meet its Gold Standard for measurement-based emissions reporting and mitigation.
The proportion of global production achieving the partnership’s highest data-quality level has doubled year over year, strengthening efforts to provide investors, markets and regulators with reliable information on methane emissions.
Tackling methane from coal and steel
UNEP is also extending its methane reduction initiatives to the coal and steel industries.
Its analysis indicates that approximately half of methane emissions from metallurgical coal used in steel production could be mitigated through measures costing roughly one per cent of the price of steel.
Data from UNEP’s Coal Methane Database, covering the world’s 250 largest metallurgical coal-producing mines and approximately half of global production, estimates that 1.4 million tonnes of methane could be mitigated from these sources.
UNEP says addressing these emissions will be critical to reducing the carbon intensity of steel production as the industry pursues longer-term decarbonisation.
The latest developments demonstrate that stronger international cooperation, improved emissions monitoring and increased industry transparency can deliver practical methane reductions while supporting global climate goals.
Photo credit: Chris LeBoutillier/Unsplash
