Global Assessment

The report finds that government-reported methane emissions from coal mines, totaling 30.5 million tonnes, may be significantly underestimated. Independent assessments suggest actual emissions could range from 38 to 67 million tonnes per year, which, when considering short-term warming impacts, could be comparable to the total annual CO2 emissions of the United States.

• Government reports to the UNFCCC from 64 countries indicate global annual methane emissions from coal mines are approximately 30.5 million tonnes. The climate impact of these emissions over the next two decades is equivalent to 2.5 billion tonnes of CO2, a level similar to India's total CO2 emissions in 2021.
• Independent estimates from the IEA, GEM, and Shen et al. (2023), combined with Ember's accounting for abandoned and closed mines (AMM) using Kholod et al. (2020), suggest that actual annual methane emissions from coal mines may be between 38 and 67 million tonnes. This is roughly double the government-reported figures.
• Using a 20-year global warming impact metric, the high end of independent estimates (up to 5.5 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent per year) places global coal mine methane emissions on a similar warming scale as the total annual CO2 emissions of the United States.

APA

Ember (2023). Global Assessment. https://ember-energy.org/chapter/global-assessment-cmm/

Chicago

Ember. Global Assessment. 2023. https://ember-energy.org/chapter/global-assessment-cmm/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Ember |title=Global Assessment |date=28 November 2023 |url=https://ember-energy.org/chapter/global-assessment-cmm/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{ember2023global, author = {{Ember}}, title = {{Global Assessment}}, institution = {Ember}, year = {2023}, month = nov, url = {https://ember-energy.org/chapter/global-assessment-cmm/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }