Tackling methane emission blind spots with satellite technology

While carbon dioxide (CO₂) has long dominated climate change discourse, the scientific community is increasingly turning its attention to methane as a critical threat.

According to the latest Global Methane Budget, published by Global Carbon Project (GCP), methane is the second-largest contributor to anthropogenic climate change after CO₂, with atmospheric concentrations rising at an unprecedented rate.

Methane’s global warming potential (GWP) is significantly higher than that of CO₂. As per the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 2021 assessment report, methane’s GWP is 29 times higher over a 100-year period and up to 82 times higher over a 20-year period.

Methane is currently responsible for about 30% of global warming and has contributed approximately 0.5°C to the rise in global average temperatures.

Around two-thirds of global methane emissions stem from human activity, particularly oil and gas operations, agriculture and waste management. In the energy sector, facility leaks and unintended releases from facilities contribute significantly to the problem.

Yet methane’s short lifespan of about nine years offers a key opportunity. Targeted mitigation can lead to rapid and measurable climate benefits, positioning methane reduction as one of the most effective tools for near-term climate action.

Despite global initiatives such as the Global Methane Pledge (GMP) – launched at COP26 and endorsed by more than 150 countries, aiming to reduce methane emissions by at least 30% from 2020 levels by 2030 – methane levels continue to rise. Indeed, the Emissions Gap Report 2023, published by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), highlights that atmospheric methane concentrations have reached record highs.

One of the primary challenges is the limited availability of comprehensive and consistent monitoring systems, particularly across the Asia-Pacific region. Many countries rely on self-reported inventories and fragmented methodologies, while access to continuous, high-resolution data remains uneven. Dense industrial areas, complex urban infrastructure and limited deployment of ground-based sensors can make reliable methane tracking more difficult in practice.

South Korea’s Methane Strategy (2023) reports that over 71% of methane emissions in the energy sector stem from fugitive sources. Establishing robust infrastructure to monitor and quantify these emissions in real time remains an area of active development.

This data gap can limit the effectiveness of mitigation strategies and complicate participation in emerging climate finance frameworks that depend on independently verified emissions reductions.

Methane is often underreported and difficult to detect. The well-known principle "you can’t manage what you can’t measure" is particularly relevant in this context. Without accurate and verifiable data, effective mitigation strategies remain out of reach.

In response, major economies have begun enforcing stricter methane regulations. In the United States, a methane emissions fee, introduced under the Inflation Reduction Act, came into effect in 2024. Operators exceeding permitted methane thresholds are now subject to a $900 per metric ton fee, increasing to $1,200 in 2025 and $1,500 by 2026.

Meanwhile, the European Union has similarly adopted new legislation requiring monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) of methane emissions across oil, gas and coal operations, including imports.

However, methane’s dispersed sources, irregular emission patterns and remote locations pose challenges for traditional ground-based monitoring. As a result, satellite-based Earth observation, combined with artificial intelligence (AI)-powered analytics, is emerging as a scalable and independent solution for near-real-time emissions tracking and accountability.

Legacy satellite systems have largely focused on detecting broad, global-scale trends in greenhouse gas emissions. However, as carbon pricing and emissions-based taxation gain traction, the demand for high-resolution monitoring – capable of identifying emissions at the facility, industrial complex, or corporate level – is becoming increasingly urgent.

In North America, a well-developed network of commercial Earth observation providers, coupled with relatively open and accessible terrain, has supported the advancement of both aerial and satellite-based methane surveillance. Still, identifying low-volume leaks across dispersed infrastructure requires increasingly refined spatial and spectral capabilities.

In the Asia-Pacific region, where industrial operations are more densely concentrated and emission sources are often situated in close proximity, these challenges are amplified. Effective monitoring in such environments demands higher-resolution systems capable of isolating individual emitters within complex operational landscapes. This level of granularity is critical to move from generalized estimates to actionable data.

To address this, Nara Space, a South Korea-based aerospace company, is developing NarSha, the country’s first methane-dedicated nanosatellite constellation. Comprising 12 satellites, NarSha will provide global coverage and detect emissions as small as 100 kilogrammes per hour, with a ground sampling distance (GSD) under 25 metres – significantly finer than many existing space-based systems.

This precision enables not only the detection of methane plumes, but also the attribution of emissions to specific sources – from remote energy fields to densely built environments. It supports faster policy responses, targeted mitigation strategies and enforcement mechanisms grounded in verifiable evidence.

NarSha is being developed in partnership with local governments to contribute to the design of region-specific methane monitoring frameworks. This shift – from generalized detection to targeted surveillance – empowers regulators and corporations to move from estimation-based management to action rooted in verified data. It is essential to bridging the accountability gap in the Asia-Pacific region and ensuring credible methane reduction.

The World Economic Forum’s Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (C4IR) is uniquely positioned to translate methane intelligence from emerging satellite systems into actionable policy and investment frameworks.

Initiatives such as the Global Methane Pledge and the UNEP’s International Methane Emissions Observatory have laid the groundwork for greater transparency and scientific accountability. Yet, the integration of satellite-derived methane data into national monitoring, reporting and verification systems, environmental, social and governance disclosures and sustainable finance frameworks remains inconsistent – particularly in the Asia-Pacific region, where regulatory structures are complex and still evolving.

To address this implementation gap, C4IR can play a catalyzing role by partnering across sectors to:

By advancing these efforts, C4IR can help accelerate the shift from transparency to accountability – empowering Asia-Pacific nations to lead in data-driven, finance-linked methane mitigation.

In doing so, the region won’t just close its methane gap – it can define the global standard for translating emissions data into enforceable, market-aligned climate action.