A new report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) finds methane gas emissions are severely undercounted, especially from the coal sector. The report provides the first comprehensive emissions estimates for each country, and found methane emissions from the energy sector grew by about 5 percent last year, indicating that some efforts to limit emissions of the potent greenhouse gas may be paying off. But methane leaks continue to be a problem.

IEA estimates the methane leakage last year was equivalent to all the methane gas used in Europe’s power sector. More than 100 countries agreed to cutting methane emissions 30 percent by 2030 compared to 2020 levels. “If by the end of this decade we can bring down man-made methane emissions by 30 percent from where they are today, the impact on the temperature rise in mid-century is the same as switching all the cars, trucks, planes and ships of the world over to zero emissions technologies,” the IEA’s chief energy economist Tim Gould said in a briefing. (The Hill, Reuters, ABC, Scientific American $, Time $)