Efforts to fix one of the oil industry’s thorniest pollution problems are moving in the wrong direction.
Fossil fuel producers flared more methane gas around the world in 2025 despite years of pledges to reduce the wasteful practice, according to data released today by the World Bank.
The volume of gas flared rose 6% last year to 167 billion cubic meters, equivalent to roughly half of Europe’s annual gas consumption. Burning it off released more than 500 million tons of greenhouse gases — more than the UK’s annual emissions.
Oil producers often incinerate the gas that emerges alongside oil when pipelines, processing facilities or buyers for the gas aren’t available. The flares spew a mix of pollutants, including CO2 and methane, which contribute to global warming and threaten the health of nearby residents.
More troubling, the data shows flaring increased faster than oil production for a third straight year, meaning producers are getting dirtier, at least on this one crucial metric, for every barrel they pump.
“The latest trends are disappointing,” said James Turitto, a director at the environmental nonprofit Clean Air Task Force. “Flaring associated gas is a waste of useful energy and a nation’s economic resources, especially at a time when the world is reeling from its second energy crisis in four years.”
The World Bank examines satellite data from thousands of flares from oil and gas producers around the world. It has produced data using this methodology going back to 2012. The total for 2025 was the second highest in those 14 years, trailing only 2019.
The increase comes despite years of commitments by industry and governments to phase out flaring. More than 50 companies signed the Oil & Gas Decarbonization Charter unveiled at the COP28 climate conference in 2023, which pledged to sharply reduce emissions and curtail flaring. Meanwhile, dozens of governments have developed policies meant to stem the practice.
“All parties need to become a lot more responsible than they’ve historically been,” said John Shinn, a former advisor to Chevron Corp. on climate change and sustainability issues.
The gas flared each year is enough to power hundreds of data centers, and is worth over $50 billion, according to the World Bank.
“The scale of the waste is quite staggering, especially since a large proportion of this is fixable with proven technology whilst also delivering attractive returns,” said Mark Davis, chief executive officer of Capterio, a flare tracking company in the UK.
Pollution from flares also harms the health of people living nearby. A 2024 study by researchers at Boston University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill estimated that flaring and venting from U.S. oil and gas operations caused 710 premature deaths, 73,000 childhood asthma exacerbations and more than $7 billion in annual health damages.
Russia, Iran and Iraq accounted for half of all gas flaring worldwide last year, according to the World Bank data. Venezuela, Mexico, Libya, Algeria, Nigeria and the U.S. contributed another third.
Of those nine countries, the U.S. was the only one to reduce flaring last year — aided by the completion of the Matterhorn Express Pipeline, which enables oil producers in the Permian Basin to sell gas that was previously flared. All told, U.S. flaring dropped 7% to 5 billion cubic meters. That’s 58% below the country’s peak reached during the shale boom, though it remains flat compared to a decade ago.
One notable success story is Kazakhstan. A decade ago, the country had the ninth most flaring in the world. But the government implemented legislative bans and foisted financial penalties on producers who ran afoul of these rules. The country has cut flaring 88% over the past decade even as oil production increased, demonstrating that enforcement can work.
Elgin writes for Bloomberg.
