Since it launched a notification system in 2022, IMEO has told companies and governments about more than 1,100 giant methane clouds escaping from oil and gas facilities. Yet the number of releases that it's verified have been halted "can be counted on two hands, maybe one," Caltagirone said.

The 12 members of the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative, which includes Saudi Arabia's Aramco, Exxon Mobil Corp. and China National Petroleum Corp., say they've halved emissions of the gas since 2017.

Yet methane emissions from the fossil fuel industry, including coal mining, remain close to a record level set in 2019 as supply continues to expand, according to International Energy Agency data.

Methane emissions from 13 of the world's major fossil fuel producing regions have risen 7% from 2020 to 2023, according to Kayrros SA, a satellite-data analysis company.