US received 138 UN methane alerts, fixed none in past year
Turkmenistan has begun repairing methane mega-leaks from its aging oil and gas facilities, according to the latest UN satellite data — a step the UN Environment Programme described as an “incredible first step” toward addressing what observers had labeled the world’s worst concentration of the potent greenhouse gas. The most recent fix, in March, addressed a corroded pipeline in Lebap province; earlier repairs targeted faulty wells and failing flares. The country now accounts for three of the six worst leaks detected worldwide by the Methane Alert and Response System in the past six months, and nine of the top 50.
“These mitigation cases are a proof point of what can be done with satellite data, especially in situations like Turkmenistan, where there are a lot of detections,” said Meghan Demeter, the programme manager of Mars, which is part of the UN Environment Programme. “We’re seeing that the pipeline of satellite data to mitigation action works, and it can work quite quickly.”
Demeter cautioned that the repairs remain limited in scale. “This is a breakthrough in terms of having real documented mitigation action,” she told the Guardian. “But it is not yet a breakthrough in the overall magnitude of emissions. Eight cases is an incredible first step, but there’s also a lot more sources in Turkmenistan that need to be addressed. We are in pretty constant communication and the response rate is growing month by month. We’re seeing steady progress.”
Methane, also called natural or fossil gas, traps about 80 times more heat than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period and causes about 25% of global heating today, according to scientific assessments cited in the reporting. A “super-emitter” leak — tonnes of methane escaping per hour from a single valve or pipeline — can heat the planet more than the emissions from a million SUVs or an entire coal-fired power station.
The United States received the second-highest number of Mars alerts — 138 — in the past year, but responded to none and fixed no leaks during that period, the data shows. Iran, Russia and China also failed to respond to any of the alerts sent to them. Mexico, Brazil and Argentina have 100% response rates to Mars alerts, while Libya and Azerbaijan have high response rates.
The previous US administration, under President Joe Biden, did engage with Mars, and one small leak in New Mexico was fixed in 2024 after a pressure safety valve was repaired. That engagement ended with the second presidency of Donald Trump, who last year called climate change “the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world” at the UN General Assembly.
The worst methane leak detected globally was an offshore leak in Mexico’s oil and gas industry of 37 tonnes per hour — equivalent to emissions from more than 7 million SUVs. Mexico responded to all 23 Mars alerts in the past year but had yet to complete a fix at the time of the data. Kazakhstan, another former Soviet republic with aging oil and gas infrastructure, has stopped eight leaks, though its overall leak count is smaller — 38 Mars alerts in the past year.
The Guardian revealed in March 2023 that Turkmenistan had the most super-emitting methane leaks in the world. In May of that year, it reported that methane emissions from the country’s two main fossil fuel fields caused more global heating in 2022 than the entire carbon emissions of the UK, a finding experts described as both “mind-boggling” and “infuriating.” The reporting prompted the government in Ashgabat to engage with the UN, the EU and other institutions, according to sources cited in the reporting. Turkmenistan joined the global methane pledge in December 2023, two years after the pledge had launched; the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and state companies Turkmenoil and Turkmengaz did not respond to a request for comment.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres has called for all countries to respond to 80% of Mars alerts. In total, Mars alerts have led to 43 leaks being sealed so far, many through straightforward on-site repairs, with others requiring more planning and funding. One major leak now stopped in Algeria had been running for almost 40 years due to a faulty flare. “We’re scaling up a lot in terms of the support that we can offer – knowledge building and technical support – and we are working alongside many partners,” Demeter said. “There are also a lot of requests for funding for direct mitigation.”
“Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan are home to some of the world’s most significant methane hotspots and their response to satellite alerts is much-needed good news in the global effort to minimise methane pollution,” said Dan Grossman, vice-president at the Environmental Defense Fund. “Stemming methane emissions from oil and gas operations is the quickest and most cost-effective method to reduce climate pollution available today. Alerts only matter if they lead to action, and governments and industry must do a better job.”
The Mars system uses artificial intelligence to analyze data from more than a dozen satellites and detect potential leaks, which are then checked by two layers of analyst review. Verified leaks are notified to the relevant government or company. Responses are recorded when recipients report on-the-ground information and an intention to plug the leak. When a leak is reported as fixed, Mars monitors the site until data shows emissions have ended before recording a success.