New Delhi: India is among the top seven highest coal mine methane emitters in the world, according to a report published on April 29 by Ember, an international energy think tank. In 2024, India emitted 1.2 million tonnes of methane from coal mines, per the report. India’s coal mine methane emissions have been rising as production expands. However, the country isn’t reporting these emissions adequately. In 2023, in fact, it did not report any emissions at all.Coal mine methane emissionsCoal mines emit methane – a greenhouse gas that causes global warming – during both the coal extraction process and after it, after the mines have been abandoned. In 2021, at the UN’s 26th Conference of Parties under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the US and European Union floated the Global Methane Pledge which aimed to reduce methane emissions by at least 30% from 2020 levels by 2030. India, however, was not party to this pledge.But how has the world fared since the Global Methane Pledge? Is the coal sector on track to play its part in emissions reductions, and what it would take to change course?Ember compiled coal mine methane (CMM) emissions from 1990 to 2024, across 73 countries. It focused on the nine countries with the largest coal production in 2024 – China, India, Indonesia, the United States, Australia, Russia, South Africa, Kazakhstan and Poland.India among top seven methane-emitting countriesEmber’s analysis – its first annual Global Coal Mine Methane Review – shows that coal mining emitted around 35 million tonnes of methane in 2023, comparable to emissions from the oil industry or the gas industry. However, lack of measurements means actual emissions may be significantly higher than those reported. Per the report, seven countries – including India – account for nearly all of the world’s CMM emissions. Data submitted by countries to the UNFCCC showed that 94% of CMM emissions originate from just seven countries: China, the United States, Russia, India, Australia, Poland and Ukraine.India’s UNFCCC data tallied more or less with the data on the Global Energy Monitor, a non-governmental organisation that catalogs fossil fuel and renewable energy projects worldwide. The report also found that India’s CMM emissions are rising as production expands, but past methodological changes have lowered reported intensity.Using India’s most recently reported UNFCCC emissions from 2020, the report estimates the country’s CMM emissions to be around 1.2 million tonnes in 2024, matching GEM estimates. The emissions reporting in India, however, showed two major drops in reported methane emission intensity.Between 1999 and 2000, emission intensity fell by almost half after India moved away from IPCC default emission factors and adopted country-specific emission factors for both surface and underground coal mines. Then, a decade later, between 2009 and 2010, emission intensity dropped again by almost 20% – a factor of India refining its country-specific emission factors using methane flux measurements from a select number of surface mines.This means that the changes have come only from India changing the reporting methodology of coal mine methane emissions. Inability to detect methane emissions via satellitesMost countries have not adequately reported their coal mine methane emissions, including India. Of the 73 countries that mined coal in 2023, only 23 countries submitted emissions reports to the UNFCCC, per the report. These countries reported a combined 3.8 million tonnes of CMM, roughly 11% of the UNFCCC-derived estimate of total global CMM emissions in the same year, leaving 89% unreported.In 2023, only three of the world’s nine largest coal producers submitted CMM data to the UNFCCC. China, India, Indonesia, the United States, South Africa and Kazakhstan did not report any greenhouse gas emissions.The Ember analysis found that the majority (71%) of coal production is in favourable conditions for detection of methane released via satellite imagery, 17% is located in regions with moderate conditions and 12% in difficult conditions.In India’s case, there’s almost zero detention of methane emissions via satellites even though almost 80% of the mines in the country fall under favourable satellite coverage conditions. “Almost none of India’s hard coal production has publicly available detections, even though 73% lies in regions classified as favourable for satellite observation,” the report noted.RecommendationsWhile changes in mining practices and reporting methodologies have decreased methane emission intensities worldwide, substantial emissions reductions are achievable with existing technologies, per the report. More than half of global CMM emissions could be cut this decade using currently available solutions, it said.Among the recommendations the report makes is that satellite operators and data providers extend cover of methane detection over the world’s largest coal-producing regions, “particularly where theoretical detectability is favourable but observed detection rates remain low, such as India, South Africa and Australia”.“Coal mine methane emissions are largely unreported, masking their true scale,” said Rebekah Horner, Ember’s Coal Mine Methane Data Analyst, in a press release. “Yet, solutions already exist and are ready to be widely implemented. This creates a clear opportunity to accelerate climate progress using tools that are already available.”“Global methane targets will not be met unless coal mine methane is addressed directly,” said Nishant Bhardwaj, Coal Mine Methane Programme Director at Ember. “This is a clear, actionable part of the problem that has been overlooked for too long. Addressing it now would deliver immediate climate benefits at a pace that few other measures can match.”