Germany's Methane Emissions Appear to Be Much Higher Than Official Reports

Ember compared government-reported emissions to three independent estimates from the International Energy Agency (IEA), Global Energy Monitor (GEM) and Shen et al. (2023). The studies rely on bottom-up and top-down methods, described in the Supporting Materials. 

Findings from all three studies agree that Germany is underreporting its CMM emissions, although there are significant differences in the scale. Ember’s previous analysis found that Germany was the country with the largest disparity between reported and independently estimated emission within the EU.

The studies indicate that Germany emits between 28 to 220 times as much as it officially reports from active coal mining operations. The largest estimates (by GEM) suggest Germany emits an additional 300,000 tonnes of methane emissions annually.

See the full analysis here.