Since a U.N. initiative began monitoring for methane leaks from oil and gas infrastructure last year, it has issued 1,200 alerts to governments and companies. But only 12 of those alerts for major plumes – just 1 percent – garnered a "substantive response" with action taken to plug the leaks, according to a report by the U.N. International Methane Emissions Observatory on Friday.

"We had expected [the response rate] to be substantially higher," the programme's lead architect, Roland Kupers, told a presentation at the COP29 climate summit in Azerbaijan.

Many who were notified of the large methane plumes detected by satellites within their borders had signed up to a global pledge launched three years ago to cut methane emissions by 30 percent from 2020 levels by 2030.

"Governments and oil and gas companies ... must stop paying lip service to this challenge," said Inger Andersen, executive director of the U.N. Environment Programme, under which the Methane Alert and Response System monitoring program is run.

"They should recognise a significant opportunity that this system presents and start responding by plugging leaks that are spewing out climate-warming methane."

Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, with 80 times the warming power of carbon dioxide over a 20-year period. To date, methane emissions have driven about 0.5 degrees Celsius in global warming, or a third of global temperature rise seen since the mid-19th century.

Capping leaks from oil and gas wells and equipment is one of the fastest ways to start tackling the problem, experts say. It also makes financial sense, they said, noting that lost methane means lost product.

Methane emissions from the oil and gas industry have remained at a record high since 2019, despite 150 countries signing onto the Global Methane Pledge.

Roughly 140 companies have signed onto another effort, the U.N.'s Oil and Gas Methane Partnership 2.0, committing to tackle unintentional methane outputs.

(Cover: A flare burns natural gas at an oil well in Watford City, North Dakota, United States, August 26, 2021. /CFP)