Data Methodology Coal Mine Methane Data Tracker

The document details the technical processes Ember uses to track coal mine methane (CMM) emissions, including how it fills historical data gaps using emission intensity factors and forecasts future emissions based on IEA production data. It outlines a confidence scoring system (0-6) for national reporting based on recency, similarity to independent estimates, and methodology robustness. Additionally, it explains how Ember calculates the proportion of surface versus underground mining and the percentage of hard coal production associated with satellite-detected methane plumes.

• Ember fills historical gaps in national coal mine methane reporting by calculating a methane emission intensity factor (Methane Emissions / Coal Production) for years with available data and applying 'Forward Fill' and 'Backward Fill' techniques to estimate missing values.
• Future methane emissions are projected using three distinct forecasting methods, all of which apply an intensity factor to International Energy Agency (IEA) forecasted coal production: a UNFCCC-based forecast using the last reported intensity, an IEA-based forecast using 2024 data, and a GEM-based forecast using the latest Global Energy Monitor and EIA data.
• To determine the national proportion of surface versus underground mining, Ember prioritises UNFCCC National Communication documents; if unavailable, it uses the Global Coal Mine Tracker (GCMT), categorising any mine description containing "Surface" as a surface operation.
• Ember assigns a confidence score from 0 to 6 to national CMM emissions based on three criteria: recency of UNFCCC reporting (0-2 points), similarity to independent estimates from IEA, GEM, and satellite data (0-2 points), and the robustness of the estimation method or UNFCCC tier (0-2 points).
• The confidence scoring system penalises countries whose coal production has changed by +/- 50% since their last report and excludes countries with reported or estimated CMM emissions below 1 kilotonne per year.
• Ember calculates the percentage of national hard coal production associated with satellite-detected methane plumes by matching plumes from platforms like Kayrros, IMEO MARS, and Carbon Mapper to the nearest GEM-identified operating non-lignite mine.

APA

Horner, R. (2026). Data Methodology Coal Mine Methane Data Tracker. Ember. https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2025/10/Methodology_CMM-Data-Tracker.pdf

Chicago

Horner, Rebekah. Data Methodology Coal Mine Methane Data Tracker. Ember, 2026. https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2025/10/Methodology_CMM-Data-Tracker.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Horner |first1=Rebekah |title=Data Methodology Coal Mine Methane Data Tracker |publisher=Ember |date=29 April 2026 |url=https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2025/10/Methodology_CMM-Data-Tracker.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{horner2026data, author = {Horner, Rebekah}, title = {{Data Methodology Coal Mine Methane Data Tracker}}, institution = {Ember}, year = {2026}, month = apr, url = {https://ember-energy.org/app/uploads/2025/10/Methodology_CMM-Data-Tracker.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }