Fossil fuel industries are failing to cut methane pollution and in doing so undermining efforts to limit global warming, the International Energy Agency said in its annual Global Methane Tracker report, released Tuesday. Methane, the main component of so-called “natural gas,” traps more than 80 times more heat in the atmosphere than CO2 over a 20-year timeframe. “Methane cuts are among the cheapest options to limit near-term global warming,” IEA head Fatih Birol said. “There is just no excuse.” The IEA’s annual Global Methane Tracker found the world’s oil and gas companies released 120 million metric tons of methane pollution in 2022 — about as much every day as was released by the Nord Stream pipeline explosion. According to the IEA report, about 80% of the tools to cut methane pollution from oil and gas operations could be implemented at zero net cost. (AP, Bloomberg $, EFE vía Prensa Latina)