2022 Global Gas Flaring Tracker Report

May 5, 2022 - The 2022 Global Gas Flaring Tracker, a leading global and independent indicator of gas flaring, finds that reductions in both absolute flare volumes and flaring intensity have stalled in the last decade, despite strong early progress. Impressive reductions in some countries have not offset concerning increases in others.

The top 10 flaring countries accounted for 75 percent of all gas flaring and 50 percent of global oil production in 2021. Seven of the top 10 flaring countries have held this position consistently for the last 10 years: Russia, Iraq, Iran, the United States, Venezuela, Algeria, and Nigeria. The remaining three; Mexico, Libya, and China, have shown significant flaring increases in recent years.

In 2021, 144 billion cubic meters of gas was needlessly burnt in flares at upstream oil and gas facilities across the globe, resulting in approximately 400 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO₂) equivalent emissions, of which 361 MMtCO2e was in the form of CO₂ and 39 MMtCO₂e was in the form of methane.