The World Risks Losing the Battle to Tame Methane Emissions

Sitting in his cramped office in Paris, Manfredi Caltagirone admits that one of the world’s highest-profile efforts to cut methane emissions so far isn’t stopping the gas from escaping and warming the atmosphere.

Caltagirone heads the International Methane Emissions Observatory, or IMEO, an informal police force that’s the tip of the spear in the global war against the potent greenhouse gas. His team at the United Nations includes researchers who scour satellite data to identify and sound the alarm on methane plumes in an effort to help nearly 160 countries that are backing a pledge made almost three years ago to ...