The International Methane Emissions Observatory (IMEO): Bringing together policy-relevant methane emissions data

To fill gaps in knowledge and refine global understanding of the location and magnitude of methane emissions across sectors, integration and use of data from a range of sources is needed. As countries and industry establish ambitious mitigation targets, accurate and measurement-based emission estimates are critical to accelerate emission reductions and assess progress by tracking changes in emissions over time.

The International Methane Emissions Observatory (IMEO) was launched in 2021 at the G20 summit and is hosted by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP). IMEO is providing reliable, public, policy-relevant data to facilitate actions to reduce methane emissions.

IMEO is collecting and integrating diverse methane emissions data streams, including satellite remote sensing data, science studies, inventories, and measurement-based industry reporting to establish a global, centralized public record of empirically verified methane emissions.

In this work, we will summarize (i) IMEO’s current efforts to integrate spatio-temporally dynamic methane emissions data (ii) details of the Methane Alert and Response System (MARS) -a recently-launched system for satellite-based detection, attribution, and monitoring of methane sources to notify emitters and assist mitigation efforts, (iii) insights from measurement campaigns across the world, and (iv) activities for the direct engagement with relevant stakeholders to accelerate mitigation of methane emissions.