IMI Satellite Methane Emissions Fact Sheets
A Harvard-developed tool is helping countries get a more accurate count of their methane emissions, ahead of the Biennial Transparency Report (BTR) deadline at the end of 2026.
The Integrated Methane Inversion (IMI) is a free, open-source software tool that uses satellite observations to estimate how much methane a country emits at national, subnational, and sector levels. It starts with a country’s own national inventory and uses weather data to calculate where its methane would travel in the atmosphere. It compares that prediction with satellite measurements of atmospheric methane, then adjusts the estimates to get a closer match. The result is an independent, top-down check on reported emissions, with a range expressing the uncertainty.
A team led by Professors Robert Stavins and Daniel Jacob has prepared fact sheets for 40 countries and the European Union, presenting IMI results for 2024, the latest year countries are required to report in their 2026 submissions. Each fact sheet compares the country’s reported inventory with the IMI satellite-based estimate, in total and by sector.
Commercial satellite products detect emissions from individual facilities, such as a leaking oil or gas site. These are valuable for finding large emitters, but they don’t give a country’s total. The IMI quantifies total emissions from all sources across an entire country, which gives a complete national picture rather than a partial one. Because the IMI applies the same method to every country, it also allows direct comparison of national methane emissions worldwide.
The IMI is designed to complement national inventories, not replace them. A top-down analysis can strengthen confidence in a reported inventory and flag sectors or regions that merit a closer look.
The 40 fact sheets below offer a glimpse of the detail the IMI can provide. The tool has data on every country, and the Harvard team can work with national inventory teams, at no cost, to use IMI results to validate and strengthen their methane inventories. To arrange a briefing, contact Daniel Jacob or Robert Stavins.
Download fact sheets
2024 results are preliminary. CO₂e values use IPCC AR6 fossil methane global warming potentials (GWP20 = 82.5; GWP100 = 29.8).
- Australia (PDF)
- Bangladesh (PDF)
- Belarus (PDF)
- Bolivia (PDF)
- Brazil (PDF)
- Canada (PDF)
- China (PDF)
- Democratic Republic of the Congo (PDF)
- Egypt (PDF)
- Ethiopia (PDF)
- European Union (PDF)
- Finland (PDF)
- France (PDF)
- Germany (PDF)
- India (PDF)
- Iran (PDF)
- Iraq (PDF)
- Italy (PDF)
- Kazakhstan (PDF)
- Mexico (PDF)
- Morocco (PDF)
- Nepal (PDF)
- Netherlands (PDF)
- Pakistan (PDF)
- Poland (PDF)
- Saudi Arabia (PDF)
- South Africa (PDF)
- South Korea (PDF)
- Spain (PDF)
- Sweden (PDF)
- Tanzania (PDF)
- Thailand (PDF)
- Türkiye (PDF)
- Turkmenistan (PDF)
- Ukraine (PDF)
- United Arab Emirates (PDF)
- United Kingdom (PDF)
- United States (PDF)
- Uzbekistan (PDF)
- Vietnam (PDF)
- Zimbabwe (PDF)
Learn more
- An audit from orbit: Satellites help countries count the methane they miss
- About the IMI: carboninversion.com
- Bruno, J. H., Jacob, D. J., Wang, X., Sulprizio, M. P., Estrada, L. A., Varon, D. J., Wofsy, S. C., Omara, M., and Gautam, R.: Integrating MethaneAIR aircraft and TROPOMI satellite observations in the Integrated Methane Inversion (IMI) to optimize methane emissions, EGUsphere [preprint], https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-4626, 2026.
- East, J.D., Jacob, D.J., Jervis, D., Balasus, N., Estrada, L.A., Hancock, S.E., Sulprizio, M.P., Thomas, J., Wang, X., Chen, Z., Varon, D.J., and John R. Worden: Worldwide inference of national methane emissions by inversion of satellite observations with UNFCCC prior estimates, Nature Communications, 16, 11004, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-67122-8, 2025.